Truckload Authority - Fall 2016

WAA: GALA IN REVIEW | TOP ROOKIE | TOP TRUCKING CONCERNS
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N o f t h e T r u c k l o a d C a r r i e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
FALL 2016
American
Wife
with Taya Kyle
In this issue
tilting the Senate
Will Democrats wrest control from the GOP?
cradle to Cab
Answering questions about younger drivers
Adopt a highway
Finding ways to pay for roads and bridges

FALL | TCA 2016
President’s Purview
Your Association
Who you are voting for seems to be the question of the month.
How about we change the subject? Let’s talk about what your association has been up to and
what is heading your way to support your business and the industry. After all, trucking is the most
important economic engine of the North American economies; this needs to be respected by many
and it will be!
During our three-day Officer’s Planning and Strategy meeting in August, we plowed some new
ground led by TCA Chairman Russell Stubbs. The budget was shaped and approved by the officers to
go before the Board of Directors for its final approval, which took place on September 21. In 2016-
2017 we will be investing in the future of your association by being laser focused on building a bright
future for your businesses.
What does this investing look like? Let’s use the four-legged stool visual. What you see at the
very top and what holds the four legs solidly in place is you the member. Our message is clear: There
is strength in numbers, there is no free lunch, and we will no longer tolerate or accept the decision
making process affecting trucking that lacks credible data, transparency, and understanding of the
importance of trucking.
Let’s look at the first leg: It is working with you to build value in your business. There are several
ways to help you be successful; it can be better than it is today and it will be. Begin to think about
what this looks like.
The next leg is improving your profitability. This is an area to which I have devoted my career. I
have a great deal of passion about it and know what it takes to get this done for you. You will find in
this issue of Truckload Authority more information about inGuage, so please take a look at it. There is
more to come. This is the time to improve your profitability, so act now!
The next is retaining your skilled workforce. What is the total cost of turnover?
I have heard a range of from $2,500 to $12,000. Many think it is much higher, and we need to
get our heads around what goes into this calculation. We have an opportunity here to shape this into
something that can really impact your culture and bottom line.
The final leg is being the voice of truckload. Being an effective voice will require intimately working
with all national and state trucking associations and their respective memberships on shaping the
future of truckload and at the same time trucking. It will be a struggle; nothing in our history has said
it will be easy, but it will be worth it. Let’s respect the past, embrace what’s before us and shape the
future. As you all have heard, David Heller has been promoted to TCA’s vice president of government
affairs. Please reach out to him and share your thoughts. We have a great deal of work moving things
forward collaboratively as an industry and this needs to happen now!
On September 20, the Nominating Committee led by Keith Tuttle interviewed four very qualified
candidates to be considered as future officers. A formal application with a curriculum vitae and
résumé was very helpful to bring out their outstanding qualifications as future leaders. Many thanks to
Shepard Dunn since he is the architect on this new process with the help of his dedicated committee.
Following that meeting was an emotional and deeply moving Wreaths Across America Gala.
I would need pages to capture this evening. We had a 20 percent increase in attendees year-overyear
numbering 310. Many thanks to all of you for making this such an important remembrance of our
fallen who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and thanks for your hard work. You will hear
more about this. Thank you to Debbie Sparks and the entire TCA team for making it a successful and
memorable evening.
The next day we held our board and committee meetings which were well attended and productive,
as you heard earlier.
John Lyboldt
President
Truckload Carriers Association
jlyboldt@truckload.org
Russell Stubbs has asked Shepard Dunn to chair the Bylaws
Committee and do a comprehensive review to design a plan moving
forward to make us nimble and proactive.
It is the fourth quarter, first down and the goal line is in reach
before time runs out. We need a touchdown; a field goal isn’t enough
to extend the lead we want as a team. So I ask you, isn’t it incredible
for the team to know anything is possible if we work together,
focus on what’s important, give it our all and have the resources
to do so? After all, the largest competitive advantage any company,
association or enterprise has is teamwork. History has proven this
many times over.
Thank you for being an active and engaged member in helping
us shape the future.
Safety first, everyone.
PRESIDENT’S PICKS
A Clear Vision
Chairman Stubbs talks about the excitement
generated by President Lyboldt’s vision for TCA.
Page 30
Inside Out Featuring Marli Hall
Get to know TCA Outreach and Engagement
Manager Marli Riggs Hall.
Page 36
WAA: Gala in Review
Fourth annual WAA Gala raises $258,000 for
causes related to Wreaths Across America.
Page 40
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority

T H h e E R O o A a d D m M a A p P
summer/Fall FALL 2016
President’s
President’s Purview
Purview
Looking Your Association Forward by by
John John
Lyboldt Lyboldt | 3
LegisLative
LegisLative Look-in
Look-in
The Tilting Accountabilty the Senate Project | 6
| 6
Capitol Recap | 10
10
America Adopt a Votes Highway 2016 | 14
| 14
Happy Cradle Birthday to Cab Highway | 17
| 16
Presidential Promises | 18
tracking the trends sponsored by skybitz
tracking Highway the trends Robbery | 18
sPonsored by skybitz
ELDelirious Fatal Flaws |
| 21
19
Climbing Detained
to the |
Top 23
| 23
Road Rage Rising | 25
nationaL news Driving
Maker Diversity | 26
sPonsored by the trucker news org.
eXcLusive American Wife with Taya Kyle | 25
a chat with the chairman sponsored by McLeod software
a chat The with 12th the Man chairMan with Russell Stubbs | 28
sPonsored by McLeod software
A Clear Vision with Russell Stubbs | 30
member maiLroom
Wreaths
MeMber and
MaiLrooM
Meetings | 33
Transporting Wreaths | 35
taLking tca
Inside Out taLking with Dan
tca
Tidwell | 34
Building
Inside on Success,
Out with WorkForce
Marli Riggs Builders
Hall Conference | 36
| 38
See Wreaths and Be Across Seen,
America, Annual Reefer
Gala Meeting
Recap | |
40
40
TCA Teaming
Top Up
Rookie with Rolling
| 42
Strong | 41
Small
Small Talk
Talk | 42
43
Mark
Mark Your
Your Calendar
Calendar | 46
46
REACHING TRUCKING’S
TOP EXECUTIVES
555 E. Braddock Road, Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone:
(703) 838-1950 • Fax: (703) 836-6610
www.Truckload.org
chairman chairMan of the board
Russell Stubbs
Chairman, FFE Holdings Corp.
President
executive eXecutive vice President
John Lyboldt
William (Bill) Giroux
jlyboldt@truckload.org
wgiroux@truckload.org
vice President – deveLoPMent
deveLoPment vice director, President– safety governMentaffairs
& PoLicy
Debbie Sparks
Dave Heller
dsparks@truckload.org
dheller@truckload.org
director of education
first vice chair
Ron Goode
Rob Penner, President & COO
rgoode@truckload.org
Bison Transport
second vice chair
Thomas Witt
President
Roehl Transport - Flatbed & Specialized
secretary
Josh Kaburick
CEO
Earl L. Henderson Trucking Company
at-Large officer
Daniel Doran, President
Doran Logistics, LLC.
at-Large officer
Aaron Tennant, President & CEO
Total Solutions, Inc.
treasurer
Dennis Dellinger
President
Cargo Transporters, Inc.
immediate iMMediate Past chair
Keith Tuttle
Founder & President
Motor Carrier Service, LLC.
at-Large officer
John Elliott, CEO
Load One, LLC.
at-Large officer
James Ward, President
D.M. Bowman, Inc.
The viewpoints and opinions of those quoted in articles in this
publication are not necessarily those of TCA.
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Cover Photo Courtesy:
Michael Ainsworth The Trucker - The News Dallas Org. Morning News
Additional Magazine Photography:
additional magazine photography:
Associated Press: P. 28, 29
Chris Kyle Frog Foundation: P. 26, 27, 29
FotoSearch: Dan Tidwell: P. 8, 17, P. 36 18, 19
Fotosearch: P. 6, 8, 14, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 33, 38, 41, 46
Marli Riggs Richard Hall: K. P. Dalton: 38, 39 - McLeod P. 28, 29, Software: 30, 32 P. 45
Pennsylvania Megan Crowell: Turnpike P. 42 - Omnitracs: Authority: P. P. 22
44
Richard TCA: P. K. 3, Dalton: 35, 38, 39, P. 40, 3, 30, 42, 31, 43, 32, 44 34
TCA: The P. Trucker 3, 25, 35, News 36, 39, Org.: 40, 41, P. 43, 1644
The Trucker News Org.: P. 6, 14
TRUCKLOAD
Truckload
AUTHORITY
Authority
|
| www.Truckload.org 4 Truckload auThoriTy www.truckLoad.org | tca 2016
TCA 2016
www.Truckload.org Tca 2016

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FALL | TCA 2016
Legislative Look-In
Will the Democrats wrest control from the GOP?
No one knows, but every website has an opinion.
By Jack Whitsett
C urrently the U.S. Senate, with two
members for each of the 50 states, has 100
members. The Republicans have a 54-46
edge, and the Democrats’ total includes two
independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont
and Angus King of Maine. Both Sanders
and King caucus with the Democratic Party,
meaning that although each may vote with
either party on individual issues, they count
themselves as Democrats for the purpose
of party totals that determine which party
elects a Senate leader (President Pro Tempore)
and committee chairs.
While the Senate is up for grabs by either
party, the same can’t be said for the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The biennial election for representatives
from all 435 Congressional Districts
will take place on November 8, on the same
ballot as all other federal elections. Almost
all states and municipalities hold their local
elections the same day on the same ballot,
with the occasional exception of school district
elections. House winners will be sworn
in to the 115th Congress in January, 2017.
The GOP currently controls the U.S. House,
246-186 with three vacant seats. That gives
the party 28 more than the 218 needed for
control, so the Democrats aren’t expected
to wrest control of the chamber, though
they could gain from 5-20 seats.
There are as many predictions of how the
Senate will look after the November elections
as there are political websites, but a
few trends seem to be developing. RealClear
Politics, as of October 5, had the Democrats
leading 47-46, with seven states, Indiana,
Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New
Hampshire, Missouri and Florida rated as tossups.
Another site, 270toWin, puts the
Democrats ahead 45-44, but with 11
tossup states. They include the
seven from RealClear Politics,
plus Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin
and Arizona. Larry J.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball,
Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

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un by University of Virginia political scientist
Larry Sabato, has the Republicans out
front, 49-47, with tossups narrowed to four,
New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Indiana and
Nevada.
The Republicans, by virtue of their current
comfortable Senate majority of 54
seats, are coming up against a series of
states that have an election (only one-third
of the Senate is up for election every two
years) and have Republican-held seats.
There are also a large number of vulnerable
Republican incumbents in 2016, giving
Democrats several opportunities for seat
changes. Put another way, as RealClear
Politics points out, Democrats have 44
seats that are either not up for election or
considered safe. Republicans have only 40
safe or not up.
Josh Katz of The New York Times stepped
up and predicted a Democratic victory,
based on The Times’ polls predicting a 52
percent chance of the party taking control of
the Senate. (This is not the same as predicting
a 52-48 Democratic margin in seats. It
merely predicts an edge of anywhere from
one seat and up for the Democrats.)
The Times’ model “suggests that the
Democrats are slight favorites to win the
Senate, based on the latest state and national
polls,” Katz wrote October 7. Most
polling websites, however, say the Senate
is too close to call, based on a breakdown
of state-by-state races.
The tossup states include two open seats,
Indiana and Nevada, where the incumbent
is retiring, and all three sites rate these as
too close to call. Nevada’s long-time Democratic
incumbent, Harry Reid, who has
served for 30 years, will be replaced either
by Republican Rep. Joe Heck or Democrat
Catherine Cortez Masto, the state’s former
attorney general. In addition to RealClear
Politics, the two other sites, 270ToWin and
Sabato’s Crystal Ball, also rate the Nevada
race as too close to call. In Indiana, where
Republican Dan Coats is retiring, the battle
is between former Democratic Sen. Evan
Bayh and Rep. Todd Young, a Republican.
Again, all three polls say the race is a tossup.
Pennsylvania is another tossup at all
three sites. Incumbent Republican Patrick
Toomey faces Katie McGinty, a former secretary
of the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection.
Illinois, once a widely rated tossup, is
now trending Democratic on two sites and
could be an important change of seats for
the party. Incumbent Republican Mark Kirk
is predicted to have a difficult time against
Rep. Tammy Duckworth. Numerous analysts
point to Illinois’ tendency to vote overwhelmingly
for Democrats during presidential
elections. Both candidates are physically
disabled and often use a wheelchair.
Kirk suffered a massive stroke in 2012.
Duckworth, a U.S. Army veteran, lost both
her legs and partial use of her right arm in
2004 when the Black Hawk helicopter she
was piloting in Iraq was shot down.
New Hampshire remains a tossup on
all three sites. Incumbent Republican Sen.
Kelly Ayotte will face a significant challenge
against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan in
the general election. Again, this could be an
important change of seats should the Democrat
pull it out, amounting to a two-seat
gain. Ayotte winning would simply maintain
the status quo.
North Carolina is neck-and-neck on two
of the sites, but is leaning Republican on
Sabato’s site. Again, this is a seat held by a
Republican, Sen. Richard Burr, who is facing
former North Carolina Rep. Deborah
Ross. A win by Burr maintains the current
count while a Ross victory would mean an
important flip for the Democrats.
In Missouri, Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican,
is in a tough race against Secretary of
State Jason Kander. The election is a tossup
on two sites, but Sabato shows Blunt with
a narrow lead. Similarly, Florida, too close
to call on two sites, is “leaning Republican”
on Sabato’s site. Once again, a Republican,
Sen. Marco Rubio, holds the seat. A loss
to Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy would
be a tough flip for the Republicans, but if
Sabato is right, the GOP may pull both of
these out.
That leaves states that are called tossups
on 270toWin. Arizona Sen. John McCain,
a 30-year veteran Republican, is facing
Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. While the
other two sites rate this a probable Republican
victory, some question this because
of Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump’s perceived insulting comments
about Hispanic Americans.
“According to Mike Madrid, a Latino-focused
Republican strategist, the results of
Arizona’s Senate election will reveal whether
the Republican Party has completely
alienated minority voters in future elections
by having Trump at the top of the ticket,”
Ballotpedia.com stated. However, McCain
has distanced himself from Trump, which
could negate this issue.
Wisconsin, rated a probable Democratic
pickup by the other two sites, is still a tossup
on 270toWin. Incumbent Republican
Ron Johnson is seeking re-election to his
second term in 2016 and will face Democrat
Russ Feingold, who represented the
state in the Senate from 1993 to 2011,
when he was defeated by Johnson in the
2010 election. Feingold was a popular
senator who lost in a favorable Republican
mid-term election, and this will be a tough
challenge for the incumbent Republican.
Again, should Feingold win, it will rate as a
major pickup for the Democrats.
Ohio, while rated safe for the Republican
incumbent Rob Portman by Sabato
and likely GOP by RealClear Politics, was
called competitive by 270toWin October
5, but moved to the Republican column
in subsequent days. Despite this move,
the Democrats increased their October
5 lead of 45-44 to a 50-47 count, with
North Carolina, Ohio and Arizona moving
from tossup to Republican, and Nevada,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New
Hampshire dropping into the Democratic
column.
It is obvious that this will be a close election
and counts will change daily on most
sites. Much may depend on the presidential
election. If Democrat Hillary Clinton, a
former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator
wins, she may pull enough Democratic
votes with the old “coattails” political phenomenon
to deliver the Senate to the party
by several seats. Should New York businessman
and tycoon Donald Trump succeed,
the Republicans could pull it out by a
seat or two. Either way, it’s fairly clear that
neither party will have enough of an advantage
to be able to move a solid agenda
without the help of elements of the other
party.
However, in an important way, a single
seat advantage is enough. As noted above,
the majority party, no matter how slim that
margin may be, is empowered to select
the president pro tempore, or leader of the
Senate. Even more importantly, the majority
can choose every committee chairman
and has a majority on every committee.
Finally, there is the chance of a 50-50
tie. Should this happen, the real president
of the Senate, the U.S. vice president, will
determine who takes the lead in Senate
seats. Since the vice president of the U.S.
breaks all tie votes, the winning vice presidential
candidate, Democrat Tim Kaine, a
U.S. Senator from Virginia, or Republican
Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana, will create
a Senate majority for his party.
Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Data Doesn’t Make
You Profitable.
Knowing What to
Do with It Does.
The trucking industry has had a multi-layered problem with data traditionally.
First, industry data has been virtually non-existent. Second, companies haven’t
had robust, industry-specific tools for collecting and analyzing their corporate
data. Finally, the expertise to interpret the data, find areas of profitability, and
set goals to monitor success hasn’t been cultivated.
Truckload Carriers Association collaborates with successful trucking
executives to solve the data problem and revolutionize the industry by
providing benchmarking resources that are chaning the future. Currently
over 250 company leaders use the tools available through TCA.
inGauge Online Benchmarking
TCA’s inGauge platform harnesses industry data and
anonymously ranks fleet performance based on Essential
Performance Indicators (EPI). Using this online tool, you
can focus on the areas that will drive profitability, efficiency,
and risk mitigation for your company. With the analytical
tools and statistical resources available through this service,
trucking executives become active drivers of business
success.
Benchmarking Best Practice
Groups
Industry executives who have seen the value of the inGauge
Online Benchmarking platform take the next step and get
actively involved in Benchmarking Best Practices Groups.
Teams of executives from eight to 12 non-competing
companies share issues they face, talk about the challenges
they have overcome, and discuss successful business
strategies. These new peer relationships are supportive,
creative, and motivating.
You have to see the inGauge Online Benchmarking platform
to truly understand its depth and breadth and how it can
help you increase profitability. Sign up for a software demo
at www.tcaingauge.com/bookdemo.
Contact:
Chris Henry
TCA inGauge Program Manager
888-504-6428
info@tcaingauge.com
“The technology within the transportation industry
has provided us with access to a tremendous amount
of data. Anyone can easily be overwhelmed with the
abundance of information we now have access to. One
can also be easily distracted with this data or simply
not know where to focus their energy. Being part of
benchmarking has allowed us to see where we are
underperforming as well as where we are leading within
our peer group. We have used this to create goals for
our team members that have had a positive impact on
our P&L. Benchmarking allowed us to hear the story
and process behind the numbers.”
Karen Smerchek
Veriha Trucking
Marinette, WI

CapItol recap
A review of important news coming out of our nation’s capital.
By Lyndon Finney and Dorothy Cox
SPEED LIMITERS
One thing’s for sure: A speed limiter rule is coming.
The industry has known that since Congress put its
foot down and told the Department of Transportation to
get a rulemaking published — pronto.
But exactly what will the mandated speed be?
Well, the long-awaited (10 years) Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking published jointly by the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration and the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration on August 26 would indeed
require speed limiters on heavy vehicles. But regarding
what speed exactly, it resembled a Chinese menu: 60,
65, 68 or none of the above.
Deep in the recesses of the NPRM, however, there
is a hint at what the final speed might be and an admission
that speed limiters might adversely impact small
carriers.
“Trucking fleets generally custom-order truck tractors
and request speed limiting device settings from the
manufacturer based on the costs and benefits of various
maximum speeds,” the NPRM said. “The high number
of vehicles set to 65 suggests that this is a reasonable
maximum speed at which to efficiently and safely
transport goods, even if it is not the optimum maximum
speed for every company.”
The agencies said that in deciding on a maximum
speed they would also consider state speed limits and
the economic impact on manufacturers and fleets including
current speed limiter settings and the potential
harmonization with the maximum set speed requirements
of Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec
of 65 mph.
A vast majority of trucks that cross the border into
the U.S. come from those two provinces.
The American Trucking Associations, the Truckload
Carriers Association and Road Safe America, which
along with ATA petitioned for speed limiters as far back
as 2006, all support a 65 mph maximum speed limit.
“There are several reasons, first and foremost being
safety performance,” said David Heller, TCA’s vice
president of government affairs. “A majority of accident
reports cite the fact that the driver was going too fast for
conditions, so there’s an opportunity to keep that excessive
speed in check. There’s also the economic factor,
as a 65 mph mandate would save fuel.”
On the other hand, the Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association has long opposed efforts to speed
govern trucks and in 2014, when FMCSA and NHTSA
were still debating the contents of the proposed rulemaking,
asked its members to contact lawmakers and
share their opposition to speed limiters.
OOIDA said the proponents were attempting to force
all trucks to be speed-limited so that the major trucking
companies could compete for drivers with independent
trucking operations that don’t have set speed limiters.
Indeed, the NPRM says that the rule could adversely
impact smaller carriers, primarily because of delivery
times.
The delivery time is based in part on the assumption
that many trucks driven by independent owner-operators
are not already speed limited as are those operated
by large fleets, and many independent owner-operators
drive the speed limit, which is 70 mph or higher in 35
states.
The agencies said because they do not have direct
revenue figures for all carriers, power units serve as a
proxy to determine the carrier size that would qualify as
a small business given the Small Business Administration’s
revenue threshold.
According to the SBA, motor carriers of property with
annual revenue of $25.5 million or less are considered
small businesses.
“The impact on small carriers could be significant
from a competitive perspective,” the NPRM reads. “Regarding
small trucking companies, the agencies predict
that a speed limiting device might take away certain
competitive advantages that small carriers might have
over large trucking firms that already utilize speed limiting
devices, but we have very limited knowledge of
whether that impact is 10 percent of their business, or
more, or less.
“We estimated that independent owner-operators of
combination trucks and single unit trucks would drive
33,675 million miles annually out of 112,249 million
miles traveled by these vehicles on rural and urban interstate
highways. With the estimated average wage of
$0.32/mile, the total annual revenue would be $10,776
million. Unlike large trucking companies, small carriers
with limited resources may not be able to increase
the number of drivers to overcome the delay in delivery
time. However, the competitive impacts are difficult
to estimate. For example, with 65 mph speed limiting
devices, we estimated that owner-operators would lose
$50 million annually.
“Accordingly, owner-operators would lose not more
than 1 percent of their labor revenue. However, we note
that the estimates were made based on very limited
data. The agencies request comment on how large the
economic impact might be on owner-operators.”
With regard to truck power units, FMCSA determined
in the Electronic On-Board Recorders and Hoursof-Service
Supporting Documents Rulemaking Regulatory
Impact Analysis that a power unit produces about
$172,000 in revenue annually.
The threshold of $25.5 million set by the SBA equates
to 148 power units (148.26 = 25,500,000 / 172,000), according
to the NPRM.
Thus, FMCSA considers motor carriers of property
with 148 power units or fewer to be small businesses for
purposes of the analysis.
FMCSA said it then looked at the number and percentage
of property carriers with recent activity that
would fall under that definition, and results show that
over 99 percent of all interstate property carriers with
recent activity have 148 power units or fewer, which
amounts to about 493,000 carriers.
“Therefore, the overwhelming majority of interstate
carriers of property would be considered small entities,”
the NPRM noted.
Overall, FMCSA and NHTSA said they estimated
that limiting the speed of heavy vehicles to 60 mph
would save 162 to 498 lives annually; limiting the speed
of heavy vehicles to 65 mph would save 63 to 214 lives
annually; and limiting the speed to 68 mph would save
27 to 96 lives annually.
“Although we believe that the 60 mph alternative
would result in additional safety benefits, we are not
able to quantify the 60 mph alternative with the same
confidence as the 65 mph and 68 mph alternatives,” the
agencies said in the NPRM.
“There are significant safety benefits to this proposed
rulemaking,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony
Foxx said. “In addition to saving lives, the projected
fuel and emissions savings make this proposal a win for
safety, energy conservation and our environment.”
The agencies’ proposal would establish safety standards
requiring all newly manufactured U.S. trucks, buses,
and multipurpose passenger vehicles with a gross
vehicle weight rating more than 26,000 pounds to come
equipped with speed limiting devices. The proposal discusses
the benefits of setting the maximum speed at 60,
65, and 68 miles per hour, but the agencies will consider
other speeds based on public input.
“This is basic physics,” said NHTSA Administrator
Mark Rosekind. “Even small increases in speed have
large effects on the force of impact. Setting the speed
limit on heavy vehicles makes sense for safety and the
environment.”
“Safe trucking moves our economy and safe bus
operations transport our loved ones,” said FMCSA Administrator
T.F. Scott Darling, III. “This proposal will save
lives while ensuring that our nation’s fleet of large commercial
vehicles operates efficiently.”
As for the implementation timeframe, the NPRM
says NHTSA is proposing a lead time of three years
from publication of a final rule for manufacturers to meet
the proposed requirements.
How long before a final rule is published would be
pure speculation, but it is likely to occur no sooner than
12 months given past rulemaking approval history and
the fact that a new administration will take office during
the preparation of the final rule.
hos fix
The trucking industry had hoped by this time that
Congress would have passed legislation that would go a
long way to settling the 34-hour restart controversy.
But alas, much like a lot of other issues on the agenda
of the nation’s 535 lawmakers, it wasn’t on time and the
wait continued.
At issue is a glitch in the FY2016 omnibus spending
bill passed in December 2015.
The saga actually began in December 2014 when
10 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Congress suspended the restart provision in the July 2013 Hours of Service rule that
(1) required two consecutive 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. time periods to qualify as a restart and (2)
allowed the restart provision to be utilized only once every seven days.
The rule in place prior to July 2013 did not require the two consecutive overnight
periods and allowed unlimited use of the restart provision.
With the suspension in place, Congress set about trying to come up with a permanent
restart provision and passed what lawmakers thought was a fix when they
approved the FY2016 omnibus appropriations bill.
But uncertainty about the final disposition of the provision was unintentionally introduced
by the omission of critical language that would have permanently suspended the
more restrictive 34-hour restart provisions.
So Congress set about trying to fix the omission in the FY2017 Transportation
Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bills.
Eventually those bills would be agreed upon by conference committee and very
likely will become part of the overall FY2017 omnibus appropriations bill.
The House Appropriations Committee passed its THUD bill, but the full House never
got around to voting.
That would have permanently restored the 2005 restart provision that allows unlimited
use of the restart provision and does not require two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods
in any restart.
It differs from the Senate version in that it ties the future of any 34-hour restart
provision directly to the results of FMCSA’s Congressionally-mandated study on the
efficacy of the 2011 restart provision that was implemented July 1, 2013, and that was
suspended by Congress in December 2014.
The Senate version would require the study to establish that commercial motor
vehicle drivers who operated under the restart provisions in effect between July 1,
2013, and the day the provision was suspended, demonstrate statistically significant
improvement in all outcomes related to safety, operator fatigue, driver health and longevity,
and work schedules, in comparison to commercial motor vehicle drivers who
operated under the restart provisions in operational effect on June 30, 2013 (i.e., the
2005 restart rule).
As the September 30 end to FY2016 grew nearer, it became obvious that Congress
would not pass an FY2017 omnibus spending bill but rather a continuing resolution
keeping the government open past September 30, and that the resolution would be
“clean” of controversial issues such as the restart rule.
The continuing resolution runs out before the end of the 2015-2016 Congressional
session and most in the trucking industry believe the current Congress will pass an
omnibus appropriations bill before it adjourns rather than leaving the problem up to the
next Congress.
ELDS
The trucking industry is taking a wait-and-see attitude after oral arguments on
the federal government’s electronic logging device mandate were heard in September
by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. But both
sides, for and against, hope the judges will rule in their favor.
The ELD rule, released late last year and set to become effective in December
2017, was challenged almost immediately by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association, which got a similar rule vacated in 2011 when appeals judges agreed
with OOIDA that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hadn’t sufficiently
addressed the issue of ELDs being used to harass drivers.
OOIDA, which represents small business truckers, early on had called the ELD
mandate “arbitrary and capricious,” saying the mandate violated 4th Amendment rights
against reasonable search and seizure, an argument OOIDA attorney Paul Cullen
Sr. made again before appellate judges David Hamilton, Michael Kanne and William
Bauer.
OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston had said an ELD mandate could have “the
single largest, most negative impact on the industry than anything done by FMCSA.”
“The court has vacated the rule before so we are confident they will do so again,”
OOIDA spokesperson Norita Taylor said.
The American Trucking Associations had a different take on the oral arguments.
ATA Deputy General Counsel Rich Pianka told Truckload Authority that “the threejudge
panel showed little sympathy for OOIDA’s arguments in favor of overturning
FMCSA’s rule requiring electronic logging devices.
“In particular, the panel was extremely skeptical of OOIDA’s argument that the statu-
To download our “Electronic Logs, Big Data & DOT
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J. J. KELLER’S ELD INSIGHTS
Preparing for Audits
in the Age of ELogs & Big Data
Keeping up with the significant amount of data generated by electronic
logging systems (ELDs) can be a challenging process. The key to
managing it properly is learning how to use the information to your
advantage, especially when it comes to audit preparation.
When FMCSA investigates Hours of Service compliance at a carrier using
electronic logs, the audit will be much different than for a carrier using
paper logs. This is because the ELD data will show when the driver was
driving and where, reducing the number of supporting documents the
investigator will need to check.
Detecting evidence of log falsification will not go away with electronic
logging. The process will simply become more technical. The auditor
will request and audit the electronic logs for specific drivers, including
those who were involved in crashes or placed out of service, drivers who
received Hours of Service violations during roadside inspections, and
top performing drivers. The auditor will then focus on a few key areas:
• Unassigned driver time: An investigator will examine details
surrounding any recorded unassigned driving time.
• Edits: An excessive number of edits or those fitting certain patterns
will catch the investigator’s eye.
• Driver roster: To locate ghost driver accounts, an investigator will
compare drivers on your roster to drivers in the ELog system.
• Device malfunctions: To determine a possible malfunction, an
investigator will look at the drivers involved, hours logged at the
time the failure occurred, and any noticeable patterns.
• On-duty time logged as off-duty: If the driver has little or no
on-duty time recorded, the investigator will ask for supporting
documents and check for falsification.
• Off-duty driving: Most systems allow the back office to move
assigned or unassigned driving to personal conveyance and assign
it to the correct driver. An investigator will verify the activity meets
personal conveyance requirements.
Knowing where to focus your attention will be key to proactive
compliance management. To prepare for changes in the DOT audit
process caused by ELogs, modify your internal auditing to look for the
same issues the FMCSA investigator will be looking for during an audit.
Fleet Management System
with ELogs
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 11

tory requirement that the devices be ‘automatic’ precluded any user input whatsoever,
at one point suggesting that this was tantamount to arguing that Congress mandated
a ‘square circle.’”
Pianka went on to say that the panel “appeared similarly unconvinced by OOIDA’s
claim that ELDs will result in no compliance improvements whatsoever.”
“As ATA explained in an amicus brief it filed in the case, while ELDs do not foreclose
all possibility of hiding HOS noncompliance, it makes impossible any number
of noncompliance scenarios that falsified paper logs could easily conceal. We look
forward to the Seventh Circuit’s decision in the case and fully expect the rule to be
upheld.”
Both ATA and the Truckload Carriers Association have favored the ELD mandate
and TCA Vice President of Government Affairs David Heller said, “TCA is anxiously
waiting and hoping” the judges “uphold the final rule in favor of the agency … and we
can clear up one [regulatory] log jam.”
Cullen set forth five reasons why the mandate should be vacated a second time:
• ELDs don’t “automatically” record Hours of Service changes-of-duty status as
required by Congress
• They again fall short of protecting against driver harassment
• They don’t protect driver confidentiality and data, especially given that state law
enforcement officers are the ones who stop drivers and check for compliance
• They violate 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure,
and
• It hasn’t been proven that the benefits of complying with the ELD mandate outweigh
the costs.
Cullen also said ELDs don’t prove HOS compliance any better than paper logs and
that “there’s no way to know [with an ELD] if you’re in compliance with federal hours
the first minute of driving,” to which Judge Hamilton said it would tell when a driver was
past his 11 hours.
Cullen replied that by FMCSA’s own admission, most accidents occur in the first
two hours of a driver’s day. He added that the mandate “still has a capacity for mischief”
in the area of harassment that goes beyond HOS.
Joshua Waldman, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice representing
DOT, countered that FMCSA had asked drivers what harassment meant to them and
addressed those issues in its rulemaking, plus added civil penalties for using ELDs
to harass drivers.
At one point, Judge Hamilton told Cullen if, as OOIDA says, ELDs have to record
everything drivers do, such a device “would have to be unbelievably intrusive.”
Then after grilling Cullen on some of his answers, turned to Waldman and asked
him if he would still maintain the ELD mandate wasn’t interfering with 4th Amendment
rights if such devices were put in passenger cars to monitor drivers and he wanted to
know who would look at the resulting data.
If the judges rule against OOIDA’s challenge, ELDs would be required beginning
in December 2017.
sLEEP APNEA
The Medical Review Board of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
has made its recommendations on screening transportation professionals for sleep
apnea in response to a joint Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by FMCSA
and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requesting data and information concerning
the prevalence of moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among
individuals occupying safety-sensitive positions in highway and rail transportation, and
on its potential consequences for the safety of rail and highway transportation.
The recommendations are non-binding as the two agencies prepare the Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking.
The board recommended mandatory screening for any truck driver with a body
mass index of 40 or more who has admitted fatigue or sleeping during wakeful
periods, or for any drivers who have been involved in sleep-related motor vehicle
accidents.
Screening would also be required for anyone who possesses a BMI of 33 and
has at least three of the following risk factors:
• Untreated hypertension
• Type 2 diabetes
• Loud snoring
• Witnessed apneas
• Small airway/mallampati score (used to predict the ease of endotracheal intubation)
• A neck size of 17 or more for males and 15.5 or more for females
• Age 42 or older
• Male or post-menopausal female
• Untreated hypothyroidism
• Stroke, coronary or artery disease, and
• Micrognathia (undersized jaw) or retrognathia (abnormal posterior positioning
of the maxilla or mandible, particularly the mandible, relative to the facial skeleton
and soft tissues).
The board also set forth recommendations as to when a driver could be immediately
disqualified and referred for OSA diagnostic testing if either of the following
conditions exist:
• Individuals have admitted fatigue or sleepiness during the wake period, and
• Individuals have been involved in a sleep-related motor vehicle crash or accident
or near crash.
The board said drivers found to be noncompliant with treatment regimens outlined
in the recommendation should be disqualified immediately until evaluated
and treated effectively.
The recommendation also suggests that certified medical examiners should
have the discretion to disqualify any driver who appears to be at extremely high
risk, and that drivers disqualified for any of the reasons set forth above must remain
disqualified until evaluated and treated effectively.
The board also set forth recommendations on how a driver determined to be at
risk based on his or her BMI (with or without risk factors) could be certified for a
set number of days pending a sleep study and treatment if the driver is diagnosed
with OSA.
The Department of Transportation rulemaking calendar does not set forth a
date for when the NPRM will be published.
Statistics show the average height of a male in the U.S. is 5 feet 9 inches. That
person would have to weigh 225 pounds to have a BMI of 33 and 275 pounds for
a BMI of 40, according to the American Cancer Society.
The average height of a female in the U.S. is 5 feet 4 inches. That person
would have to weigh 190 pounds to have a BMI of 33 and 235 pounds to have a
BMI of 40.
REST BREAK
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has quietly denied a petition
from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) asking that the Hours of Service
30-minute rest break provision be removed from the regulation.
The CVSA petition, filed October 28, 2015, said the rest break provision which
went into effect July 1, 2013, “is difficult to effectively enforce since the inspector
has no way of verifying whether or not the driver was legitimately off duty during
that time or if he/she used the time to perform other work-related duties, such as
fueling, inspection or loading and unloading items.”
The CVSA said in the petition it did not believe there is evidence that the requirement
improves a driver’s overall commercial motor vehicle operational capabilities
or increases safety.
The alliance also pointed out that FMCSA had issued nine exemptions to the
30-minute rest break to various segments of the trucking industry and that in each
of these instances, the agency indicated that an equivalent level of safety could be
maintained under the exemption.
CVSA is a nonprofit association comprising local, state, provincial, territorial
and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials and industry representatives.
It aims to achieve uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial motor
vehicle inspections and enforcement by certified inspectors dedicated to driver
and vehicle safety.
In a letter to CVSA Executive Director Colin Mooney, FMCSA Administrator
Scott Darling said that neither scientific research relied upon to create the 30-
minute rest break provision nor the roadside inspection data reviewed for the
calendar years 2013, 2014 and 2015, supported the contention that the safety
benefits are questionable or that enforcement is particularly difficult, even after
granting exemptions for certain industry segments.
In denying the petition, FMCSA also cited 2011 studies that it said demonstrated
that breaks reduce the risk of crashes after a break and that while any break
from driving reduces risk in the hour following the break, off-duty breaks produced
that largest reduction.
“The benefits of breaks from driving ranged from a 30- to 50-percent reduction
in risk of a safety-critical event with the greatest occurring for off-duty (non-working)
breaks,” Darling said in his letter to Mooney.
In conclusion, Darling said that CVSA had not provided any data or information
that would suggest that the 30-minute break provision places an undue burden
either on regulated carriers or the enforcement community.
12 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

THREE OTHER RULEMAKINGS
Three key Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rulemakings remain in
various stages of progress:
• The Final Rule on Entry-Level Driver Training could well be published by year’s
end;
• The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Commercial Driver’s License Drug and
Alcohol Clearinghouse also is expected to be published before the end of 2016; and
• The comment period on the NPRM for Carrier Fitness Safety Determination has
ended.
The industry has for the most part lauded the driver training standards, and believed
they couldn’t come soon enough.
Under the rule, for the first time ever applicants seeking a “Class A” CDL —
necessary for operating a combination tractor-trailer type vehicle weighing 26,001
pounds or more — would be required to obtain a minimum of 30 hours of behindthe-wheel
training from an instructional program that meets FMCSA standards,
including a minimum of 10 hours of operating the vehicle on a practice driving
range.
The behind-the-wheel training requirement is the first such standard set forth in a
formal regulation.
“The Truckload Carriers Association supports this rulemaking,” said David Heller,
TCA vice president of government affairs. “It will help us get better-trained drivers on
our highways, a step that will reinforce with the public our commitment to safety.”
There is no requirement for behind-the-wheel training in current federal regulations.
That’s not the case with the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI), which is managed
by TCA. Since at least 1998, drivers who attended a school with a PTDI-certified
course had to complete 44 hours of behind-the-wheel training.
The Final Rule has been under review at the Office of Management and Budget
since August 29.
The industry has long asked for the drug and alcohol clearinghouse as a way to
prevent the practice of drivers who’ve either failed a screening or refused a screening
from merely going down the road and applying at another carrier.
“We support this even though we don’t know for certain how the language will read,
but reporting positive drug tests for drivers is a good thing,” Heller said. “It’s a chance for
carriers to see what kind of driver they are hiring.”
He said no one in the industry has any indication of the timeframe for reporting previous
positive test results and/or refusals to test. “The thought process is that it would
record all positive drug tests and would also record refusals to test. I don’t know how
far back it would go.”
The NPRM has been under review at the Office of Management and Budget since
May 18.
The Carrier Safety Fitness Determination NPRM is certainly not without controversy,
including concerns aired by TCA.
“It’s fair to note that the Carrier Safety Fitness Determination as written only affects
about 15 percent of the industry or less than 75,000 motor carriers,” Heller said. “That
doesn’t cut mustard.”
A carrier’s safety fitness determination is based on inspection and citation data
and some carriers are just not generating enough data to have a determination of their
safety fitness made, Heller said.
“So you’re creating a rule that doesn’t measure the majority, only a small minority.
Carriers aren’t afraid to be rated, but they all want to be treated the same; there’s no
sense having a program that rates such a small portion of the carriers. Those carriers
that are getting inspected and thus generating data are the ones that are being
judged.
“The other thing is that just because a carrier is not rated unfit doesn’t mean they’re
fit to operate — because if they aren’t generating data they are going to be rated as fit
and that may not necessarily be the case.”
In its comments to FMCSA, TCA also pointed out that without a standardized process
instituted for the nation’s enforcement personnel, data generated at the roadside can
often vary based upon geographic location, reliability and more often than not, the sheer
absence of roadside inspections by many carriers who operate on the highways.
“While roadside inspections will generate real-time, on-road performance measures,
the mere incorporation of this data into determining a carrier’s safety fitness will
lend itself to present a score that has proven to be at the very least, subjective in
nature,” TCA said.
FMCSA will use all 171 comments submitted on the NPRM to write its Final
Rule.
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FINDING ways to pay
By Dorothy Cox
Upon reading a news article on philly.com a couple of years ago
about the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission financing the Turnpike’s link
with I-95 by borrowing $500,000 each from Chinese investors in return
for the investors and their families being granted legal immigration visas,
a Facebook reader commented: “I now know I have to put down this crack
pipe and dedicate myself to sobriety. You won’t believe what I thought I
just read.”
The heavily indebted Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is borrowing
a reported $200 million from the Chinese investors under the federal
immigrant investor program that grants EB-5 visas to foreigners who
provide at least $500,000 to U.S. projects that create 10 or more American
jobs.
Indeed, states and other local governmental and quasi-governmental
entities are having to get creative to rustle up money to build new infrastructure
and fix existing highways and bridges.
Earlier this year trucking watched as one piece of legislation after another
to fund road fixes fell in a huge pothole, never to be heard from
again. Finally, Congress was able to get itself together and pull a fast
one — the FAST Act or Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act. But
lawmakers have been unwilling or unable so far to come up with a way
to keep the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) solvent, or a long-range funding
mechanism absent the HTF to maintain U.S. roads and bridges.
So states and local governments and other entities, most of which have
had funding shortfalls of their own, have had to look elsewhere.
Dave Heller, TCA’s vice president of government affairs, notes that
since 2013, 19 states and the District of Columbia have increased their
fuel taxes to fund transportation projects and that several states, including
California and Oregon, have successfully deployed pilot programs on a
vehicle miles traveled tax.
“TCA and its members continually monitor new fundraising revenue
streams so that we can stay abreast of the situation and stay on top of
infrastructure funding,” he says, adding that TCA supports increasing the
fuel tax and indexing it to an appropriate annual cap.
Some states have advanced proposals to put “lockboxes” on all monies
raised through transportation-related levies such as fuel taxes, tolls,
license fees, vehicle registration fees etc., requiring those funds be spent
on transportation needs.
Duh.
Other states have proposed additional cigarette taxes or taxing electric
hybrid vehicles, which aren’t being taxed — yet.
Some states want to increase vehicle registration fees or add a state
tax on oil changes and auto repairs.
Still others want to use any excess state tax reserves for transportation.
Mississippi is discussing dedicating part of its BP Oil settlement to
transportation.
In general, states are looking for investments to be part of the threelegged
stool of funding: federal, state and local money, says Joung Lee,
director of policy for the American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
And although states may come up with funding through other means
they will always need some sort of federal funding, he told Truckload
Authority.
“You need reliable funding to pay for infrastructure,” he said. Financing,
like a house mortgage, allows payments to be amortized over time:
Build it now and pay over time, but financing “is contingent on some sort
of revenue.”
Trucking has largely favored increasing fuel taxes to raise road revenue,
but many politicians have been reluctant, afraid it will cost them
their seats as state and federal lawmakers.
But a report released September 6 by the American Road & Transportation
Builders Association (ARTBA) said a new analysis of eight states that passed
legislation to increase their state motor fuel taxes in 2015 to pay for new transportation
improvements showed that 98 percent of Republican and Democratic
lawmakers who supported the bills won their primary races in 2016.
14 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

for road projects
“These results should dispel any notion that
voting to increase the state gas tax is politically
toxic,” says ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison
Premo Black, who conducted the research.
“Voters expect lawmakers to put forward
solutions to help reduce traffic congestion, improve
road safety and help grow the economy.
They’re also willing to pay for these expanded
investments,” she adds.
It sounds too good to be true.
But a survey last year by the American Trucking
Associations seems to show that the public is
coming around.
The survey found that infrastructure spending
is second only to education (by a 64-60 margin),
as an area on which the public thinks more
money needs to be spent.
Furthermore:
• The number of people who believe more
needs to be spent on infrastructure has risen
12 points — from 48 percent in 2014 to 60 percent.
• Forty percent of the public thinks infrastructure
should be a top priority for federal
spending.
• Sixty-three percent of Americans believe
roads and bridges are not being properly maintained.
• And a majority of Americans — 53 percent
— believe it will be necessary to raise taxes to
properly maintain roads and bridges.
• However, the public remains opposed to raising
the fuel tax, raising income taxes, interstate
tolling and adding registration fees to pay for
needed maintenance, but when forced to choose
—supports raising the fuel tax over tolling.
The Federal Highway Administration on August
30 announced $14.2 million in grants to
state transportation departments to “test new
ways of funding highways.”
It’s called the Surface Transportation System
Fund Alternatives grant program, a long name
for a program to explore alternative revenue
mechanisms. This will “help sustain the longterm
solvency of the Highway Trust Fund,” said
FHWA in announcing the grants.
The funding will go to eight projects that will
use a variety of options to raise revenue including
on-board vehicle technologies to charge
drivers based on miles traveled, multi-state or
regional approaches to road user charges or
RUCs, and others.
The California DOT will use RUCs using payat-the-pump
charging stations ($750,000).
In Delaware, the state DOT will institute user
fees based on on-board mileage counters in collaboration
with members of the I-95 Corridor
Coalition ($1,490,000).
Missouri DOT will implement a new registration
fee schedule based on estimated mpg
($250,000).
Here are some existing and potential revenue
options provided by AASHTO:
Container Tax – A national fee imposed
on some or all containers moving through the
U.S. AASHTO says this has a strong sustainability
factor but that there are potential trade law
conflicts.
Customs Revenues – Customs duties are
imposed at varying rates on various imported
goods and currently go into the General Fund
of the U.S. Treasury although AASHTO’s policy
commission and others have suggested that a
portion of the duties collected be used to supplement
transportation investments.
Drivers License Surcharge – Although this
fee is often used to recoup the cost of administration
of state licensing programs, some states
are using it to finance transportation or even
other programs.
Freight Bill – A freight waybill tax would be
like a sales tax on freight shipping costs. AASH-
TO says such a tax could be modeled on the aviation
system tax in which passenger and freight
users who rely on the same infrastructure and
carriers all would contribute.
Freight Charge or Ton Mile Tax – This has
historically had strong opposition from trucking
as well as rail. It would charge shippers a flat fee
for every ton of freight moved. Unfortunately,
the tax’s impact would be the heaviest on lowvalue
bulk items.
Harbor Maintenance Tax – This existing
revenue mechanism is similar to customs duties
and fees and supports the federal Harbor Maintenance
Trust Fund.
Heavy Vehicle Use Tax – This annual fee is
currently imposed on all trucks 55,000 pounds
GVW or greater and although, says AASHTO, it’s
easy and cost-effective to administer, it doesn’t
raise a lot of revenue.
Imported Oil Tax – The tax is on imported
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 15

oil and charged as either a fixed amount per barrel of oil or as a percentage
on the value of imported oil. It’s a small fee that could raise a significant
amount of revenue but there’s not a direct correlation between
who’s taxed and what the money is used for. For example, home heating
oil would be taxed for transportation.
Business/Personal Income Tax – AASHTO says a national income
tax for transportation could be created fairly easily and inexpensively by
dedicating a portion of tax receipts to transportation, although it could
negatively impact the federal budget.
Motor Fuel Tax – The last time fuel taxes were increased for transportation
purposes was 1993. The United States federal excise tax on
gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel.
The problem, of course, is that the HTF has long-term sustainability issues
although on the plus side it has a large revenue yield with a small rate
change and the administration mechanism is already in place.
Motor Fuel Tax Indexing – This establishes an annual adjustment to
motor fuel tax rates by adjusting for inflation but depends on motor fuels
as the primary HTF funding source.
Oil, Gas and Minerals Receipts – The federal government receives
income in the form of royalties, bonus bids and other payments from the
extraction of oil, natural gas and minerals from federal lands and offshore
mining and some of the receipts could be dedicated to transportation purposes.
Registration Fees for Light-duty Vehicles and/or Trucks – All
states impose these fees and at least half the states raise more than a
quarter of their dedicated transportation funds through this mechanism.
It could be viewed as double taxation.
Sales Tax for Auto-related Parts and Services – A national sales
tax could be established on all services related to vehicle use. Although it
would bring in substantial revenue, there are administrative and compliance
issues as well as social equity issues, notes AASHTO.
Sales Tax on Bicycles – There is currently no such tax but one idea
is to use a portion of the sales tax on bicycles to fund transportation improvements,
although it probably wouldn’t raise much revenue.
Sales Tax on Diesel/Gas – A national sales tax on motor fuels could
be imposed as a percentage of motor fuel costs. A few states already do
this, most in the 4 to 6 percent range, but fuel price volatility could lead to
unpredictable revenues, not to mention public opposition.
Sales Tax on New/Used Light-duty Vehicles – This would most
likely be levied as a percentage of the total sales price for either all new
or new/used vehicle purchases.
Sales Tax on Trucks/Trailers – A federal sales tax of 12 percent
is imposed on the retail sales price for the first sale of all tractors and
trucks over 33,000 pounds in GVW and trailers over 26,000 pounds GVW
including parts and accessories associated with the sale. The revenue potential
is limited and unstable but funds have strong sustainability, says
AASHTO.
Tire Tax/Bicycles – There’s no such tax currently; it would be very
sustainable but not bring in much money.
Tire Tax/Light Duty Vehicles – This would likely be implemented in
conjunction with the current federal truck tire tax.
Tire Tax/Trucks – A federal tax is imposed on the purchase of tires
for trucks with a maximum rated load over 3,500 pounds, said to recover
some of the additional system damage costs caused by heavier vehicles.
The current tax rate is 9.45 cents for every 10 pounds of maximum capacity
that exceeds 3,500 pounds.
Transit Passenger Miles Traveled Fee – This would be a national
fee on each mile of travel on transit systems across all modes and would
be levied in addition to current local transit fares. There is strong public
and political opposition to this fee, says AASHTO, but a strong correlation
between fee and user and it would be sustainable.
Vehicle Miles Traveled Fee — Drivers can be charged for the total
number of miles traveled regardless of the road used or time of day.
Oregon DOT’s fee system will allow up to 5,000 voluntary participants to
choose from a number of ways to collect the data. Again, public and political
opposition is strong, but the revenue yield is potentially high.
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16 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Cradle to Cab:
Will Pilot answer Safety
Questions about Young Drivers?
By Lyndon Finney
The time period has ended for trucking stakeholders to respond to the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s request for input on the agency’s proposed pilot
program allowing drivers of military heavy vehicles between the ages of 18 and 21 to
operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. As for the Truckload Carriers
Association, the FMCSA could go one step further.
“You got it,” said David Heller, vice president of government affairs, when asked
if a statement in a TCA letter to the FMCSA meant the association would like to see
any 18- to 21-year old with a CDL (military or otherwise) be part of the pilot.
That statement reads, “TCA supports, in principle, the authorization by the FMCSA
of carefully structured experimental programs for use of younger drivers (18, 19 and
20), provided that such drivers have been carefully screened, received quality training
from a school or training program certified by the Professional Truck Driver Institute
(PTDI), and will be closely supervised and monitored by a motor carrier which
has a ‘satisfactory’ safety rating and such other approvals and requirements deemed
essential by FMCSA. Since 2000, TCA has advocated for the development of such a
program that would begin to prove whether or not drivers who are carefully selected,
trained and observed and are between the ages of 18 and 20 years old, could safely
operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce.”
The FMCSA said it is also proposing criteria for a working group to consult with
the agency in conducting, monitoring and evaluating the pilot program. TCA would
lobby to be part of that group.
During the proposed three-year pilot program, the safety records of these younger
drivers — known as the study group — would be compared to the records of a control
group of comparable size, comprising drivers who are 21 years of age or older
and who have comparable training and experience in driving vehicles requiring a CDL.
The control group would consist of volunteer drivers who meet specified criteria
and are employed by a participating carrier.
The comparison of the two groups’ performances would help to determine whether
age is a critical safety factor, the agency stated.
Heller, noting that TCA had advocated a similar pilot in 2000, said TCA strongly
supports the proposed pilot program.
“It’s an effort to gather data on an issue for which there is no data. We left looking
for data” that is just not available, Heller said, adding that the pilot would help
prove whether younger drivers are as safe, safer or less safe than drivers older than
21.
“I can get on the roof of our building and see all over Washington, Maryland and
Virginia,” he said, “but if I’m 21 or younger, I can’t drive to those locations from Virginia
but I can drive all over Virginia.”
Heller said if the pilot proves that drivers under 21 are capable of driving safely in
interstate commerce, it would open the door for more recruiting efforts designed to
draw high school graduates into the trucking profession.
Efforts to lower the minimum driving age go back at least to the early 1970s
when the Federal Highway Administration, FMCSA’s predecessor agency, examined
the subject of the minimum age of CMV drivers as part of a comprehensive overhaul
of the driver qualification requirements. FHWA conducted a literature review and
analyzed crash statistics and psychological data and determined that most drivers
under the age of 21 “lack the general maturity, skill and judgment that is necessary
in handling commercial motor vehicles.”
The report concluded that there was no support for lowering the age limit of 21.
Subsequently, on October 2, 2000, TCA petitioned FMCSA to conduct a younger
driver pilot program.
Motor carriers, truck driver training schools, a trade association and an insurance
company joined in the petition asking FMCSA to authorize a pilot program to determine
if CMV drivers under age 21 could operate CMVs safely in interstate commerce,
saying the pilot could help address the shortage of drivers.
In February 2001 FMCSA published a notice asking six questions about the
proposed pilot program and requesting public comment on the TCA proposal and
received more than 1,600 comments.
More than 90 percent of the commenters were opposed, most on the basis that
individuals under the age of 21 lacked the maturity and judgment to operate a CMV.
Very few truck drivers and motor carriers commented, but most of them also opposed
the pilot program.
After a 2003 Senate report questioned the need for such a pilot, FMCSA denied
the TCA petition, stating that “the agency does not have sufficient information at
this time to make a determination that the safety measures in the pilot program
are designed to achieve a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level of
safety provided by complying with the minimum 21-year age requirement to operate
a CMV.”
The agency said in a notice to be published in the Federal Register that because
many service personnel leave active duty while close to or over the age of 21, it is
likely that most study group members would be reservists or National Guard members.
To have a statistically valid sample of drivers under the age of 21, approximately
200 study group participants are desired.
Participating carriers that meet the qualifications described later in this notice
would sponsor study group members and perform other duties related to the pilot,
such as filing certain reports and recruiting existing drivers to participate as control
group members.
To reduce the administrative effort involved, FMCSA anticipates that a fairly small
number of carriers would be selected to participate.
For TCA’s complete comments to FMCSA about the pilot program go to
reglations.gov and enter docket number FMCSA-2016-0069.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 17

Presidential Promises
By Cliff Abbott
If the polls are to be believed, not everyone is happy about their
choices for president of the United States in the upcoming election. One
bipartisan group, however, is praising both the Democrat and Republican
candidates for their proposals to address the country’s crumbling infrastructure.
“We really believe that we’ll see an infrastructure proposal within the
first 100 days of a new administration, whichever candidate is elected,”
explained Kerry O’Hare, vice president and director of policy at Building
America’s Future Educational Fund (BAFEF).
Founded in 2008, BAFEF is a bipartisan coalition of elected officials
that are working to elevate the discussion about the U.S. infrastructure.
Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, former Governor
Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and former New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg co-founded the organization.
BAFEF’s involvement with the presidential election goes beyond monitoring
each candidate’s campaign for news of infrastructure policy. The
group has actively participated in the process, conducting moderated
discussion panels at each of the major party’s national conventions.
“I was involved with the Republican National Convention (RNC), while
Marsha (BAFEF President Marsha L. Hale) worked with the Democratic
National Convention (DNC),” said O’Hare. At the RNC, [former U.S. Secretary
of Transportation] Ray LaHood and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick
Cornett joined a panel that tackled the question, “what would your advice
be to the presidential candidate that is elected to advance a plan
centered not just on repair and upgrade of our infrastructure but also
making it more relevant to the direction so many cities are going?”
Cornett is also current president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Sen. Deb Fischer (Nebraska), who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee
on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure,
Safety and Security and Ben Brockschmidt, vice president of policy at
the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the event.
In an exclusive interview with Truckload Authority, O’Hare explained
why she feels positive about the presidential race. “We appreciate that
both presidential candidates are talking about it, which hasn’t been the
case in recent elections,” she said.
BAFEF intends to continue fueling the infrastructure discussion with
a series of debate questions that are posted on the organization’s website
at bafuture.org and submitted to the various media outlets that
are hosting the presidential debates. The questions range from a basic,
“What’s your plan …” to queries about how the candidates envision the
use of technology, including autonomous vehicles, to bring the country’s
infrastructure into the 21st century.
Which candidate has the better infrastructure plan? “According to
their website, the Clinton campaign seems to have more specificity, including
a comprehensive funding plan,” O’Hare stated. “The Trump campaign
states that infrastructure improvements are planned but does not
provide much specificity, especially as regards funding.”
Funding of infrastructure improvements and expansion is on a lot of
minds as governing bodies wrestle with a replacement for the dwindling
revenues produced by the current fuel tax system. O’Hare believes that
no potential funding options should be dismissed. “All options should be
on the table,” she said. Until a replacement is found, however, she said,
“We have advocated for an increase in fuel taxes to offset revenue losses
caused by more fuel-efficient vehicles. We encourage public-private partnerships
where it makes sense and we have advocated for a National Infrastructure
Bank to supplement funding raised by traditional methods.”
O’Hare described some of the organization’s funding recommendations.
“We’re looking at different road user charges, including a $90 million
VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) pilot program that was included in last
year’s Highway Funding bill passed by Congress. We hope that states will
use the program to fast-track their own programs.”
Of course, any discussion of infrastructure funding wouldn’t be complete
without a discussion of tolling as a method of raising revenue.
“Your readers are probably not going to like this,” she said, “but we have
to have a revenue stream to build and maintain infrastructure and tolling
is a part of that.”
Tolling offers other benefits in addition to generating funds, she
explained. “Tolling is ideal for private investment in public-private partnerships,”
she stated. Attracting dollars from private investors is one
way that cash-strapped governing bodies can fund improvements, and
privately held companies may be able to operate tolling systems more
efficiently than government bureaucrats.
Tolling can provide incentives that help make better use of available
roads, too. “Tolling is a congestion-reliever as variable tolls are introduced,”
she said. “Tolls can be toggled to encourage use of routes that relieve congestion
on other routes.” Some drivers would be willing to change their route
if a savings could be realized. Variable tolls could also be used to encourage
travel at non-peak hours, providing relief for “rush hour” congestion.
While paying for roads and bridges would seem to be the basis of any
infrastructure plan, preparing the future is another core BAFEF issue. “We
encourage rapid advancement of autonomous cars and other vehicles
and we try to help cities prepare infrastructure to accommodate them,”
O’Hare explained. Helping cities is a key part of the plan. While the group
addresses various forms of infrastructure, there is a definite focus on metropolitan
areas, where infrastructure modernization will have the greatest
impact. “Our focus has been on metro infrastructure, preparing cities to
deal with advancements in technology. Traffic light systems, road sensors
that ‘communicate’ with autonomous vehicles and other improvements
will be needed.”
O’Hare said that there is no specific focus on autonomous trucks or
the “platooning” concept that has garnered attention in the trucking industry.
Improvements in metro areas, however, would help reduce traffic
bottlenecks and delays caused by congestion.
While elected officials, state and local agencies and nonprofit associations
comprise most of the BAFEF membership, individual members are
encouraged to sign up and stay in the loop. Completing the signup form
provided on the BAFEF website entitles the user to receive periodic updates
on the organization’s activities. The group also informs interested
parties through a Twitter feed (@BAFuture) and a Facebook page.
As with any presidential election, there is plenty of discussion about
the future direction of the country. O’Hare and BAFEF intend to make
sure that discussion includes the topic of America’s infrastructure.
18 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

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Tracking The Trends
ELDelirius
Implementation of Electronic Logging Rule
Replaces HOS as Trucking’s No.1 Concern
By Lyndon Finney
The looming implementation date of the federal mandate
on the use of electronic logging devices heads the list of
the top 10 critical issues facing the North American trucking
industry, according to a survey released October 3 by the
American Transportation Research Institute.
More than 65 percent of the survey respondents said they
were concerned about productivity impacts the industry may
experience from the full deployment of ELDs late next year.
ELDs were the sixth-rated concern in 2015.
The complete results of the annual survey, which generated
a record 3,285 responses from motor carriers and commercial
drivers, were released at the American Trucking Associations’
2016 Management Conference and Exhibition.
The number of respondents marked a 137 percent increase
over 2015.
ATRI said 64.5 percent of the respondents were professional
truck drivers, 27.8 percent were motor carriers and 7.7
percent were other industry stakeholders with representation
from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Dropping one position from its top ranking for the past
three years, Hours of Service stayed near the top of the list
because of a growing uncertainty over the outcome of the restart
provision.
Ranking third in this year’s survey, the issue of cumulative
economic impacts of trucking regulations is new to the annual
list and reflects the industry’s collective frustration with
increasing and often costly regulatory requirements, ATRI officials
said.
The concern about regulations is the first new category to
hit the list since 2012, when the ELD mandate, truck parking
and driver health/wellness first appeared.
After ranking seventh last year, driver health/wellness fell
out of the top 10 in 2016.
The lack of available truck parking moved up again this
year to fourth place overall and the state of the nation’s economy
rounds out the top five concerns on the list.
CSA, which was second last year, slipped to the sixth spot
this year, followed by the driver shortage (third in 2015),
driver retention (fourth in 2015), infrastructure/congestion/
funding (also ninth last year) and driver distraction (also 10th
last year).
The ATRI Top Industry Issues report also includes prioritized
strategies for addressing each issue.
The strategies for ELDs included (1) researching and quantifying
industry impacts on safety and productivity from full
deployment of ELDs, (2) assessing the landscape of appropriate
and inappropriate uses of newly available ELD data, and
(3) ensuring that the two-year implementation window is not
extended.
The report noted that there is significant uncertainty in the
industry concerning the costs and benefits of industry-wide
ELD deployment.
With an average price of $495 per truck or more, a major
hurdle for many carriers will simply be the purchase and deployment
of the devices, the respondents said.
And while FMCSA’s Regulatory Impact Analysis showed
a savings to the industry of $2.44 billion in administrative
costs, other research predicts an overall loss in productivity of
between 3 and 5 percent, with this figure potentially increasing
to 10 percent for small carriers.
“Given the disparity in predicted impact, a vast majority
of respondents (65.8 percent) want to see research that
quantifies real-world industry impacts from full deployment of
ELDs,” the survey report said.
As for the implementation date, ATRI reported that a small
portion of respondents indicated they do not want the implementation
window to be extended past the current two-year
period due to the unfair competitive advantages that fleets
using paper logs could have over early ELD-adopting fleets.
Hours of Service had ranked at the top of the concerns list
for three years prior to 2016.
At stake is the final outcome of the 34-hour restart provision.
In December 2014, Congress suspended the 2013 provision
requiring two consecutive 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. shifts and
limiting the restart to once every seven days, pending a Congressionally-mandated
study on the efficacy of the provision.
Additional uncertainty surrounding the final disposition of
the HOS rules was unintentionally introduced in the December
2015 omnibus appropriations bill with the omission of critical
language that could have permanently suspended the more
restrictive 34-hour restart provisions.
That study has been completed, but its results are being
held a closely-guarded secret pending the outcome of further
Congressional action on the restart provision — and in
preparing the FY2017 Transportation and Housing and Urban
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 19

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Drivers and Carriers Rank the Concerns
Each year when the American Transportation Research Institute conducts its survey of
the top critical issues in the trucking industry, there is a hefty response from both professional
truck drivers, fleet executives and other industry stakeholders.
In reporting the results, in addition to an overall ranking, ATRI separates driver and motor
carrier responses.
In 2016, each group had the same top four, but a new issue emerged as No. 9 for motor
carriers — the Federal Preemption of State Regulations of Interstate Trucking, also known
as F4A.
The term F4A comes from the Congressionally-enacted Federal Aviation Administration
Authorization Act of 1994, written to prevent states from undermining federal deregulation
of interstate commerce through a patchwork of state regulations.
But the Ninth Circuit Court’s July 9, 2014, decision in Dilts v. Penske Logistics holding
that the FAAAA does not preempt California’s meal and rest break laws as applied to motor
carriers, is contrary to the statute’s deregulatory imperative.
F4A was written specifically because Congress found that “the regulation of intrastate
transportation of property by the states has imposed an unreasonable burden on interstate
commerce” and was intended to preempt state regulation in the areas governed by F4A.
The trucking industry has come to see the decision as a serious threat to the free-market,
competitive system that the FAAAA sought to create and a real burden for carriers
engaged in interstate commerce.
In the two years since the decision, the problems associated with operating under California’s
law has gained more and more attention and efforts are under way to get Congress
to pass legislation preserving the broad preemption provisions of F4A as intended.
California law generally requires employers to provide a 30-minute meal break for every
five hours worked, and a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, far beyond
the Hours of Service requirements. Employers must provide one additional hour of
pay for each day that the employer fails to provide the meal period or rest period.
California’s meal and rest break laws that apply to all employers impose substantive
standards related to the price, route or service of a motor carrier, and therefore preempted
under the F4A.
The trucking industry knows that the imposition of the burden of the California law massively
impacts price, routes and service by binding motor carriers to routes, services, and
schedules that it otherwise would not be bound to, interfering with the competitive market
forces the F4A sought to promote.
Trucking is hoping the Congress will address the F4A issue in the final version of the
FY2017 Transportation Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies appropriations
bill that will ultimately become part of an omnibus spending bill.
Development appropriations bill, the
two branches of Congress have different
ideas on how to resolve the issue.
The House wants to scrap the 2013
restart provision altogether.
The Senate still favors letting the
result of the FMCSA study dictate what
will happen.
Trucking stakeholders had hoped the
issue would be resolved when Congress
passed the FY2017 omnibus appropriations
bill prior to the end of the fiscal
year on September 30, but lawmakers
passed a continuing resolution to keep
the government operation without including
any restart language.
The ATRI survey report said significant
negative impacts on the industry
have been documented by numerous
sources because of the 2013 provision.
In 2013, ATRI found that 80 percent
of motor carriers indicated a loss of
productivity directly attributable to the
now-suspended rules, and driver pay
impacts were estimated to range from
$1.6 billion to $3.9 billion annually.
Proposed strategies for the HOS
concern as listed in the report are (1)
advocate for a permanent science-based
fix to the 34-hour restart rule that ensures
that FMCSA does not return to the
more restrictive provisions requiring two
overnight rest periods of 1-5 a.m. and
limitation on the use of the restart to
once per week; (2) continue to push for
increased flexibility in the current sleeper
berth provision; and (3) research and
quantify the true safety and economic
impacts of customer detention on truck
drivers and trucking operations.
“Given the growing amount of uncertainty
surrounding the future of the
HOS rules and the documented research
showing the negative safety and productivity
impacts that resulted from the
34-hour restart provisions, the industry
is understandably impatient for a longterm
solution that does not include a
return to the currently suspended provisions,”
the report said. “As such, 45.7
percent of respondents would like to
see a resolution based on empirical evidence.”
As for flexibility, the report noted
drivers using the sleeper berth provision
must take at least eight consecutive
hours in the sleeper berth, plus a
separate two consecutive hours either in
the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination
of the two and that 30 percent
of respondents would like to see added
flexibility to this rule to allow drivers to
rest when they are tired.
ATRI said the emergence of the issue
on the impact of regulations speaks
to the industry’s growing concern for
“over-regulation.”
20 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

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ELDs have climbed to the top of the leaderboard in the latest ATRI survey of trucking’s 10 most critical concerns.
“With FMCSA’s ELD rule and the Environmental Protection Agency/National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration greenhouse gas
emissions rule, vehicle costs will continue to increase,” the report
said. “And, productivity impacts that generate from regulatory actions,
such as the HOS, speed limiter and ELD rules, all have corresponding
economic effects. These and countless other regulatory
actions and proposals from the numerous agencies which regulate
trucking all add up to a new third place concern for the industry.”
Proposed strategies for regulation concerns are (1) analyze
the accuracy of federal agency regulatory impact analyses (RIA)
versus actual industry costs as new regulations are proposed, (2)
quantify cumulative regulatory costs incurred by the trucking industry
over the past decade, broken out by each federal agency
promulgating the regulations and (3) develop recommended industry
metrics and model analyses for future rulemakings to better
project industry costs.
As required by law, a study of the potential impacts of new
regulations must be conducted on the benefits and costs of implementing
the proposed regulation, the report noted.
“Research has documented where significant discrepancies exist
between agency projections and actual industry costs,” the report
said. “When reviewing the regulatory impact analysis for the HOS
rules change in 2013, ATRI documented a delta of $322 million
between FMCSA’s projected benefits and the industry’s costs from
the more restrictive 34-hour restart provisions. Over half of respondents
(51.8 percent) would like more research similar to the
ATRI study in comparing the projected and actual impacts of new
regulations.
As for the parking shortage, the ATRI survey respondents said
the growing scarcity of available truck parking creates a dangerous
situation for truck drivers who are often forced to drive beyond
allowable HOS rules or park in undesignated and, in many cases,
unsafe locations.
In response to a congressional requirement, the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) released its Jason’s Law Truck
Parking Survey Results and Comparative Analysis in August
2015, which confirmed that truck parking continues to be a major
issue in the United States. As such, this issue climbed one
position to No. 4 overall from last year.
Similarly, ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee selected Truck
Parking as the most critical research need for the industry in
2015.
In response, ATRI released the first of a series of technical
memoranda on the topic of truck parking in September 2015 highlighting
driver perceptions and valuations for locating available
parking.
The second Tech Memo to be released in October 2016 analyzes
detailed information on over 2,000 days of truck parking
activity recorded by commercial drivers in ATRI’s “Truck Parking
Diary.”
Strategies for the parking issue include (1) supporting and
encouraging investment in new truck parking facilities, (2) educating
the public sector on the safety consequences resulting
from closing public parking facilities and (3) researching the role
and value of real-time truck parking information availability and
truck parking reservation systems.
A vast majority of survey respondents, 71.2 percent, indicated
that a decline in truck parking capacity is a result of the
closure of many public truck stops and rest areas. Reopening
shuttered facilities and investing in new ones would help alleviate
the shortages occurring in many areas, they said.
ATRI said stagnant economic growth in the fourth quarter of
2015, as well as slow growth thus far in 2016, caused concern
over the state of the nation’s economy to climb three positions
to fifth overall.
“This has generated significant concern among industry
stakeholders, who for the past two years have ranked the economy
much lower in the list of annual concerns, thanks to the
strong post-Great Recession period between 2011 and 2014,”
stated the survey.
Proposed strategies to deal with the economy as it impacts
trucking include (1) researching and quantifying the impact of
the new U.S. Department of Labor overtime rules on the trucking
industry, (2) advocating for reforming/repealing ineffective
and burdensome regulations that add to economic costs without
providing benefits and (3) continuing to advocate for policies
that will stimulate the economy.
To download the complete report, go to atri-online.org.
22 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Climbing to
By Jack Whitsett
the Top
Wages surpass fuel as
biggest operating cost
Wages have replaced fuel as the largest expense
for North American motor carriers, a new
study by the American Transportation Research
Institute found in September. “An Analysis of the
Operational Costs of Trucking,” an annual survey
published since 2008 by ATRI, also showed a decline in the
average marginal costs per mile. ATRI, part of the American
Trucking Associations, is the trucking industry’s nonprofit
research arm.
Using financial data provided directly by motor carriers
throughout the country, the ATRI reports document
and analyze trucking costs from 2008 through 2015 and
provide trucking industry stakeholders with a high-level
benchmarking tool and government agencies with a
baseline for future transportation infrastructure improvement
analyses, ATRI officials said.
And, for the first time since ATRI started collecting
the industry’s operational costs data, driver
costs now represent a higher percentage of overall
costs than does fuel, ATRI said. The report showed
driver wages represented $0.499 of the average
marginal cost per mile compared with $0.403 for
fuel costs. Driver benefits were $0.131 per mile.
Of the total average costs per hour of $63.70,
driver wages represented $19.95 of that total
while fuel costs were $16.13 per hour. Driver
benefits cost $5.22 per hour.
Driver wages have steadily increased since
the 2012 study, “in response to the growing
driver shortage and to offset lost productivity,”
the ATRI study stated.
Wages amounted to 31 percent of total costs,
surpassing fuel costs of 25 percent, lowest since
the study began, while the average marginal cost
per mile in 2015 was $1.59, a 6 percent decrease
from the $1.70 found in 2014.
This decline in average marginal cost-per-mile
(CPM) is attributed mostly to the steady fall in fuel
prices experienced throughout 2015, but also identifies
the late 2015 economic softening that continued
into 2016.
“The combined impact of these forces in the industry
will likely continue to result in increased driver
wage and benefit costs as fleets strive to keep their
experienced workforce and recruit additional drivers,” the
report said.
“ATRI’s ‘ops cost’ research is an excellent barometer of the
state of the nation’s economy, as it documented the softening
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 23

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in 2015 but also indicates that costs will
be on the rise in 2016,” said Bob Costello,
chief economist for ATA and a member of
the ATRI Research Advisory Committee.
A key finding, aside from fuel replacing
wages as the top expense and an 11-
cent per-mile decrease in operating CPM,
concerned equipment age. In this report,
“respondents reported holding all equipment
types for slightly longer than was
documented in 2014, which may result
in a slight increase in repair and maintenance
costs.”
In addition to increased maintenance
costs, another factor is an obvious outgrowth
of holding equipment longer. Class
8 truck sales have steadily declined since
peaking in July 2015, and have reached
historic lows this year, according to ACT
Research and FTR, transportation analyst
firms.
The overall average fleet age increased
to 8.7 years from 7.4 years in 2014, but
average miles driven per truck decreased.
“This trend corroborates the earlier
finding that carriers are holding their
equipment for longer while logging fewer
miles per year, and likely explains the
repair and maintenance (R&M) CPM figure
remaining constant despite an older
overall fleet age in years,” the ATRI report
stated.
Specialized carriers reported the highest
driver wages, at 59.2 CPM. LTL carriers,
many of which are unionized, were
next at 49.0 CPM. Truckload carriers reported
the lowest driver pay per mile of
46.0 CPM.
The report says that the higher marginal
cost of wages comes at a time when
the trucking industry continues to experience
a severe and growing shortage of
qualified drivers.
“While the 2015 economy began to
weaken, the American Trucking Associations
still estimated a shortage of 48,000
drivers in 2015, with projections that the
shortage could increase to 175,000 by
2025,” the report said, noting that one of
the challenges facing the industry is the
aging workforce.
A 2014 ATRI study identified alarming
demographic trends facing the industry,
with 55.5 percent of its workforce 45
and older, and less than 5 percent of its
workforce in the 20- to 24-year-old age
bracket.
Additionally, the driver population is
likely being impacted by strong housing
and commercial real estate growth, which
provide alternative higher-paying job opportunities,
although these jobs are very
sensitive to economic factors, the report
said.
For instance, many thousands of truck
drivers originally lost to oil-drilling in
North Dakota have returned to for-hire
trucking industry jobs now that a large
percentage of wells have been capped.
Three new questions
were added to the
survey for next year:
1. Based on your fleet’s IFTA data, what is your fleet-wide
fuel economy in miles per gallon (MPG) for 2015 (i.e. real
miles driven divided by gallons of fuel purchased)?
2. For your fleet, what is your typical per-truck operating
weight in pounds?
3. While your vehicles are in motion, what is your fleetwide
average travel speed in miles per hour (mph)?
The report noted that another challenge
for the driver population was the
change made in July 2013 to the Hours
of Service rules, which had a documented
impact on carrier productivity and driver
earnings. In response, some carriers reported
having to increase driver wages to
offset the lost productivity experienced
by drivers because of the more restrictive
HOS rule provisions which often forced
truck drivers into morning and evening
rush hour driving.
Contrary to previous trends of LTL
carriers reporting the highest R&M CPM,
specialized carriers now have the highest
CPM, at 17.4 cents in 2015, ATRI
reported. LTL carriers were second at
16.8 cents, followed by truckload at 14.2
cents, “the only increase in R&M costs
experienced among the sectors.”
The report divided marginal costs into
two general categories, vehicle (fuel,
lease or purchase payments, repair, insurance,
permits and tolls) and driver-based
(wages and benefits). The report found
the average cost-per-mile to be $1.593 in
2015, an approximate 11 cent decrease
from 2014’s $1.703. The savings were
“driven almost entirely by the decline in
fuel prices.”
The average cost per hour was established
by using an average 39.98 mph
speed and amounted to $63.70 per hour,
down $4.39 from 2014’s $68.09, the
third-lowest total since the study was initiated,
ATRI reported. Fuel cost per mile
figured to 40.3 cents, the lowest reported
figure since the ATRI survey began.
Meanwhile truck/trailer lease or purchase
payments rose to 23.0 cents per mile in
2015, despite the overall decrease in CPM.
“Specialized carriers reported the highest
lease or purchase CPM of 28.6 cents
likely due [to] the extra expense associated
with specialized equipment,” the
ATRI study stated. “Truckload carriers
reported the second highest CPM at 23.1
cents, followed by LTL carriers at 17.2
cents.”
Overall, after increasing by 3 percent
from 2013 to 2014, total average marginal
costs decreased by 6 percent from
2014 to 2015, “driven almost entirely by
the decline in U.S. diesel prices.”
ATRI does note, however, that the cost
trends noted in the report are not expected
to last.
“Despite an overall decline in 2015 of
6 percent in a carrier’s CPM, it is highly
likely that this trend will not continue.
Fuel prices are projected to increase
slightly throughout 2016, and the driver
shortage is expected to continue to grow
in the face of an aging workforce and increased
demand for freight.”
New to this year’s report is additional
information on fleet-wide fuel economy
and operating speeds and the relationship
between speed limiter use and fuel
economy.
Since its original publication in 2008,
ATRI has received over 10,000 requests
for the Operational Cost of Trucking report,
and it continues to be one of the
most popular reports among industry
stakeholders. In addition to average
costs per mile, ATRI’s report documents
average costs per hour, cost breakouts by
industry sector, and operating cost comparisons
of U.S. regions.
A copy of this report is available from
ATRI at atri-online.org.
24 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

W i t h T A Y A K Y L E
American Wife
By Lyndon Finney
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 25

ought to you by The trucker news organization
get your daily industry news at thetrucker.com
Chris and Taya share a moment together in 2006 between his deployments to Iraq.
On the Cover: Taya with her German Shepherd, Max
Taya Renae Studebaker’s original plan was to conquer
the world on her own.
By her own admission fiercely independent and adventurous, as
a young Oregonian turned Californian she just wanted to work.
No encumbrances, please.
She flat out didn’t want to be tied down.
She just wanted to achieve great things on her own, which given
her tenacity and what America has come to know as her courage in
the face of tragedy, she might well have done.
But then God, faith and Chris Kyle intervened.
As most everyone knows, Chris, who Taya married in 2002, went
on to become the most heralded military sniper in America, the subject
of the best-selling book, “American Sniper,” and subsequently a
blockbuster film of the same title.
As if the book and film didn’t thrust Taya into the limelight perhaps
more than she might have liked, Chris Kyle’s well-documented
untimely and tragic death and that of his friend Chad Littlefield on
February 2, 2013, at the hands of a fellow, but troubled veteran,
has done so even more. And today she is on an avowed mission to
honor God, country and families who serve by providing experiences
that strengthen military and first-responder marriages and families
through the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation (frogfoundation.org), so
named to continue the legacy of Chris, himself a Navy SEAL.
Her hope is that her efforts will help especially military families
escape some of the marital discord she and Chris experienced during
his four tours overseas, discord that caused Chris to leave the
military in 2009 expressly to save their marriage.
As troubling as those first seven years might have been, Taya is
quick to point out that after a difficult transitional period after Chris
came home from the military, the couple and their children — Bubba
and Angel — had the happiest days of their lives together, realizing
“how blessed we were.”
Taya was born September 4, 1974, in Portland, the daughter of
Kim and Kent Studebaker, who through the end of 2016 is serving
as mayor of Lake Oswego, Oregon, a suburb of Portland.
The spirit of independence that led to wanting to go it alone was
present in her as a young person.
She was brought up in the Episcopal Church, but her parents
didn’t force it on her.
“When there was a time I didn’t want to go to church, not because
I didn’t believe, I wanted to sleep, they allowed me the freedom to
do that,” Taya says today. “They allowed me to stretch my wings and
have some freedom and make some mistakes, too, so I appreciated
that.”
They also taught Taya the value of kindness.
“They are the type of people who you can count on, so when
there’s a friend in need they are right there, they are in the mix, they
are never too busy to help someone else, so all of those things,
basic human kindness, the ability to forgive people, and all this was
instilled in me at a pretty young age. They set very high standards
for me so it’s interesting that I look back and think how grateful I am
I got that mix” of independence and relationships.
She was an athlete in school, playing soccer, softball, track and
basketball.
There were hardships.
“There’s always some drama when you have young people who
have hormones, no judgement, no life skills and pressure all put
together,” she said.
She had a boyfriend in high school, which she doesn’t recommend
for anyone.
“I think you should date around and have fun, but not have a serious
relationship because there’s a lot of heartache there that could
be avoided,” Taya said recently. “That’s
a lot of responsibility for a high school
student to be in a relationship and try
to take care of someone else while trying
to figure out who you are. And then
there were other girls who would want
to have a piece of your boyfriend and
that was a struggle and I think my time
would have been better spent having
great friendships with girls that didn’t
include some of that pressure.”
After graduating high school, Taya
attended the University of Oregon
for two years before, under the guise
of following the aforementioned boyfriend,
she moved to Wisconsin, where
she graduated from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in
economics and a minor in business.
“It was a way to get out of Oregon,”
she says today, admitting that she
knew the relationship “wasn’t to be”
and that it might have led to her wanting
independence more and more.
After graduation she took a job in
Wisconsin selling advertising for a local
newspaper, but soon tired of the
harsh northern winters.
She decided to move to California,
where she took a sales position with
an office supply company and then
landed a job in pharmaceutical sales
26 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

in Long Beach, where she bought a condo and settled in.
At the time, she had “this fiercely independent, adventurous spirit
and I just wanted to be able to count on myself and be self-sufficient
and have fun and have no real ties and work,” she said. “I love
to work, and I thought it was a pretty neat idea to be a successful
hard-working woman who could achieve great things and not have
that traditional setup of being tied down. I don’t think I thought much
further about it other than I thought it would be a fun way to go
through life.”
Gradually, the pressures of her job got to her and she even had a
case of mild clinical depression.
Being in outside sales, she had no co-workers to make friends
with.
She began to rethink her future with respect to being independent.
“I really do feel like God brought me to my knees and showed
me that is not the way He
set up this world to be,”
she said. “I do not believe
He created people to go
through life alone. Clearly, if
you look in the Bible there
is Adam and there is Eve
and we weren’t just meant
to go it solo. I felt God was
telling me that in particular.
And that’s when I finally
humbled myself and accepted
it. I remember it
like it was yesterday that I
prayed and I was sad and
heartbroken in a way, but I
knew it was by His design
that I give up my silly notion.
“I said, ‘I’m Yours, I get it,
I’m not to go through this
[alone], so just send me
someone nice,’ and I kind
of boiled it down to give me
a man with a good heart,
good values. I really don’t
care what he looks like, I
don’t care what he does for
a living, I don’t care how
old he is, I’m open. It was
only a few weeks later that
I met Chris.”
Taya and a friend were visiting San Diego where Taya’s mother
and aunt have a beach house when her friend decided they needed
to go out for the evening.
“That day I thought, ‘I don’t feel like going out’ but she kind of
pushed the issue with me and said, ‘come on, we came all the way
down here, let’s go out,’” Taya recalled.
She found out later that the man who was to become the love of
her life and the father of their children didn’t really want to go out that
night, either, but he, too, succumbed to pressure from his friends.
“He ended up going out in an old sweatshirt and some beat-up
jeans not planning to meet anyone,” Taya said. “He kind of reluctantly
went.”
Taya balked at the cover price to get in the bar they’d chosen to
visit, but her friend paid the charge and said “oh, shut up, I’ll pay it”
and in they went.
“I was reluctant every step of the way and I feel like God probably
put a few people in place to make sure that meeting still happened,
on his side and my side,” Taya says today.
“I was at the bar arguing with a friend of Chris’ and I don’t even
remember about what,” Taya said. “I was probably just being a little
bit difficult. Chris saw me across the bar arguing with his friend and
he thought, ‘Oh, I can do two things right here. I can talk to this girl
who I want to talk to and save my friend from her wrath, so it will be
a win-win.’”
So he went over and introduced himself and we just started talking.
It was only after Chris pulled her leg as the old saying goes that
she found out he was a SEAL who had just graduated the Basic
Underwater Demolition school.
He first told her that he was a dolphin waxer, telling her that dolphins
in captivity lose their ability they have in the wild to produce
the wax they need to protect themselves from the elements.
“So when they are in captivity they need somebody to wax them
and I’m a dolphin waxer.”
“I hadn’t had enough to
drink to buy that one,” she
said. “But I did think that was
kind of witty,” she said. “And
then I said, ‘Seriously, what do
you do?”
Chris pulled her leg further.
He called her attention to an
ATM machine just around the
corner from the bar.
“I work for the bank,” Chris
told her. “Next time you go
there just wave at the camera
because I’m the guy in the
back handing out the money.”
“I definitely hadn’t been
drinking enough to believe that
one.” Eventually, Chris leveled
with her about being a SEAL.
“I thought he’s probably selfcentered,
probably arrogant,
glory seeking, and maybe
rightfully so because they accomplish
a lot and they are
quite capable,” Taya said.
And she expressed those
very thoughts to Chris.
“I’ll never forget. Chris
looked at me, sort of cocked
Chris taught Taya how to safely handle firearms.
his head to the side and he
looked at me as if I’d said the
sky is green. He said, ‘I would
die for my country. How is that self-centered or arrogant?’ It blew me
away because I thought this guy is the real deal. A lot of people feel
that way because they have motivations for the things they do. I’ve
come to know that most people in the military feel the way he felt. I
just hadn’t met those types of people in the past.”
Taya quickly learned Chris was just the opposite of what she perceived.
He was a caring, humble gentleman.
So a whirlwind courtship followed.
“He was kind and so unassuming,” Taya said. “He treated me with
such respect and I would say there was an old-fashioned gentlemanly
approach in the best possible way. And at the same time he
was unabashed in letting me know he thought the world of me, he
was excited about talking to me, he was interested, he couldn’t wait
to see me again and that combination I feel is just so powerful and
probably rare, even today. And I think it was rare then and even today
that people can set their pride aside and be unabashed and at
the same time be 100 percent a gentleman and putting no pressure
on the other person.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 27

ought to you by The trucker news organization
get your daily industry news at thetrucker.com
Taya, Bubba and Angel follow Chris’ casket onto the field at AT&T
Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, where the funeral was held
through the generosity of owner Jerry Jones, who provided the
building, the staff and security. Chris was an avowed Cowboy fan.
“It’s a great combination.”
Chris and Taya were married in 2002 just before he left for his
first of four deployments to Iraq.
When Chris went to Kent Studebaker and asked for his daughter’s
hand in marriage, the blessing came with a warning.
“When I asked my dad what he thought of Chris after Chris had
already asked me for permission for that, he said, ‘I think he’s a
phenomenal guy. My only concern is I believe he’s willing to go to
war and war changes people,’” Taya recalled. “And I thought at the
time, ‘you don’t know Chris. He’s like this amazing character that
the world does not change him. He just has this special aura that
is unchangeable, he’s just so unique and seems unaffected by the
world around him.’”
War did change Chris, Taya says now.
Something Chris did when he was deployed the first time also
changed Taya.
“I remember asking him about God and a little more about the
Bible, and I was floored to know how well he knew the Bible inside
and out,” she said.
Chris, the son of Sunday School teachers, carried a Bible in his
ranch truck.
“I didn’t know that. I married him and I knew he knew God. It just
wasn’t something that came up. We were young and in love and
the rest was kind of superfluous. But he started to teach me then
a little more about how God says in the Bible there’s a time to draw
your sword.”
Taya said she started to learn a little more about God and lean
into her Christian faith a little more.
That faith, she said, sustained her through some seven years of
pretty much constant turmoil at home. As if it weren’t bad enough
that her husband was overseas on a dangerous assignment leaving
her at home to raise two children, each time he came home, she
and Chris didn’t necessarily agree on whether he should take another
deployment or get out of the military.
“I started to feel God so strongly in my weakest moments when
I would just be alone,” she said. “The second deployment I would
sleep with the lights on and I knew it wouldn’t do any good, there
was no purpose of leaving the lights on, but I wanted something
tangible to take away the fear that I felt. The more I leaned in, the
more I talked to Chris and he told me the stories about people who
said, ‘When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go.’ I thought it was
a cop-out at first, but then I started to really believe it because there
were too many incidents when Chris should have been killed. There
were mortar rounds that would drop right in front of him and smoke,
but not go off. There were bullets that would fly by him and other
guys all the time. There was one time when he was in a room in
Iraq and he was in the middle of a gunfight and for some reason he
flew backward. They were calling on the radio, ‘he’s been hit, he’s
been hit,’ because nobody flies backward. The bullet whizzed right
by him, barely missing him. He couldn’t explain it, he didn’t know
what happened, if it’s a God thing, a guardian angel thing or what,
but I know he went backward and the bullet just barely missed him.”
The four deployments encompassing seven years are detailed
in Taya’s book, “American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service, Faith,
and Renewal,” which she wrote to help the families of first responders
and military personnel to offer knowledge and hope, something
she says she didn’t necessarily have during Chris’ deployments.
It was after the fourth deployment that ended in 2009 that Taya
told Chris she’d had enough.
Get out of the military, or she might get out of the marriage.
Chris did come home for good in 2009, and the family moved to
Texas, Chris’ home state.
But there was an adjustment period.
“I was under the illusion that when he got out of the military that
it would be like when he had time off,” Taya said. “We had such a
great time together, but what I didn’t account for was the transition
period of leaving the military and the brotherhood. I had no idea
how traumatic that would be and the toll it would take on both of us.
But once we got through that part, which took a lot of work, we were
very excited about having a life that was centered around our kids
Taya speaks about the statue of Chris before its unveiling July 28,
2016, at the Chris Kyle Memorial Plaza in Odessa, Texas. Chris
was born in Odessa in 1974.
28 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Taya Kyle gets a hug from San Diego Padres starting pitcher Andrew
Cashner (34) after throwing out the first ceremonial pitch
on Military Opening Day before a baseball game between the San
Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants in San Diego in 2015.
Taya first met her husband Chris in San Diego in 2001 and they
and their two children lived there until they moved to Texas after
he left the military in 2009.
and our family and kids’ sports and neighborhood activities with fun
in the community and it was a different thing for us.
“We’d been to a number of funerals and we know of the horrible
injuries that people have and the loss of life and limb and for us
to come out the other side of that it’s like, ‘Holy Cow! We’re here
and we have our family and we have an amazing little boy and an
amazing little girl that laugh and giggle and they’re healthy and we
appreciated the blessing of that so much because I think there were
so many times when it was in our faith that we couldn’t possibly not
have it.”
The year or so before he was killed brought the greatest happiness.
“We had come out of the trouble we had the year before, and
there was this elevated sense of peace, with the accomplishments
that we made together,” Taya said. “The future looked bright and
there was just a peaceful hope in what lay ahead and I felt like and I
still feel like it was God’s gift to me to say to me that we were meant
to be together and ‘I promise you all of what you went through didn’t
change the fact that you were meant to be together. You just had
trials.’ It made us closer; it made us stronger.
“In that last month, I had enough faith in the joy we had been
feeling that I could look back and say we were deeper and stronger
than we were in that year of beginning love when we hadn’t gone
through the horrible times. You just love each other. And it’s deeper
because you’ve been through things and you’ve seen each other at
your worst and you’ve seen each other at your best and everything
in between, and nobody walked out and we came through. And to
me that was such a huge gift.”
Today, Taya is engrossed in her work through the Chris Kyle Frog
Foundation, her speaking engagements such as at the Wreaths
Across America Charitable Gala, and her work as a contributor at
Fox News and her work alongside the Patriot Tour, traveling the
country to teach lessons of grief, faith and love to those in need.
Her strength today, as it has been these past years, is her faith.
“It’s the only thing that got me through in the end, truly,” she says
today. “I feel like the lessons I learned when I was with Chris and
the things that we had to contemplate together with friends dying
and life going on and seeing the widows that had gone before
me, all of that laid the foundation for the things that I would need
to get through [his death]. I also think that He promises free will to
everybody and I believe that the person who took Chris’ and Chad’s
life exercised his free will and that’s an example of God keeping
His promise [of free will] but another promise is He’ll bring beauty
through the ashes and that’s a comfort to me to see Him take
something horrifying, even if it’s negatively impacting my life more
than I could ever imagine, to see He could take even that, the darkest
of pains, and do something beautiful with it in this world. That’s
inspiring to me.”
As for the future, Taya’s seeking direction from God.
“I have a sense that He won’t necessarily want me to be alone
the rest of my life,” she said recently. “I still want to be. That’s a
hard one for me, something I have to reconcile because I don’t
think His intention is for me to be alone forever. I know that I’m
very resistant to that idea. I have an emotional brick wall built up to
the sky. I actually pray to God to please get through to me without
breaking me again. If I’m really screwing up really badly by not entertaining
that thought will You gently open my eyes to it? But I feel
like God’s allowing me that space right now and I’m not sure that
it’s what He wants but I do have a sense that it’s what He wants.
There will be an awakening at some point. It could be now if I’d be
open to it but I can’t get there yet.”
And you can rest assured that because of her deep faith in God,
His answer to her will be loud and clear and she will follow.
Taya says goodbye to Chris, who is buried in Austin, Texas, in a
state cemetery that is the final resting place of notable Texans.
The badges on the casket are called Tridents and are placed
there by fellow SEALs. To nail them into the coffin by hand is a
complete sign of respect to a fallen comrade.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 29

FALL | TCA 2016
A Chat With The Chairman
A Clear Vision
Foreword and Interview by Lyndon Finney
The concept of organizational vision is certainly nothing new,
and neither is its importance.
Sometime during his reign as king of Israel from 970 BC to 931
BC, Solomon wrote what is now known as the book of Proverbs,
a collection of simple and concrete sayings, popularly known and
repeated, that express truths based on common sense or experience.
The King James Version of Proverbs 29:18 says “Where
there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law,
happy is he.” The Good News Translation puts it this way: “A nation
without God’s guidance is a nation without order. Happy are
those who keep God’s law!”
In this “Chat,” TCA Chairman Russell Stubbs speaks about the excitement
among TCA officers, members and staff with respect to the
clear vision President John Lyboldt has brought to the association and
how that vision will lead TCA to become the voice of truckload.
The chairman also speaks about the sterling success of the
fourth annual Wreaths Across America Charitable Gala and about
the need for association members to step up and volunteer to help
transport truckloads of wreaths to veterans’ cemeteries around the
country for Wreaths Across America Day December 17.
The chairman closes his “Chat” discussing three critical regulatory
issues facing the industry.
30 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Sponsored by
Mr. Chairman, you are now halfway through your chairmanship of
the Truckload Carriers Association. Share with the membership the
association’s accomplishments aCComplishments during the first six months.
First and foremost, I have to talk about our new president,
John Lyboldt, who took over in December 2015, not too long
before I assumed my responsibilities the last day of the convention
last March. We’ve had a lot of good things going on and a lot
of good discussions concerning John’s vision for the association,
which is to be the voice of the truckload industry. That’s what
we’re all about and what we need to be to bring more value to being
a TCA member. Other aspects of the vision include working on
member profitability, continuing our educational programs and
looking at the advocacy piece and determining how we can best
benefit the truckload segment. During the past six months, we’ve
had a great safety conference in May in Fort Worth, Texas, we had
our first WorkForce Builders Conference in Indianapolis in June,
we’ve seen great success with our webinars put on by Ron Goode
and his group who’ve done a great job with that program, and
we had our officers’ planning meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
in August. As for the WorkForce Builders Conference, we didn’t
have the turnout we’d hoped, but the conference content was
great and we received very good feedback from the participants.
We feel we have gained some good momentum for this meeting,
which will be held again next June in Indianapolis. We’ve also
asked Ron and his team to plan for more webinars in 2017 because
we think the content is great and they are a good source
of revenue for the association. Let me say a little more about the
officers’ planning meeting, which was a great success. We took
care of a lot of business and had great discussions on the future
of the association, but the most important thing we did was to
go over the FY2017 budget line-by-line, department-by-department.
The staff members were there to explain their portion of
the budget, which we were able to approve and move forward for
the entire board to approve at its meeting in September. It is the
first time in my recollection that we approved the coming year’s
budget prior to our fiscal year that begins October 1. The staff
along with our Financial and Long-range Planning Committee led
by Dennis Dellinger did a great job of getting out in front of our
fiscal year and getting the budget approved.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 31

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McLeodSoftware.com | 877.362.5363
Right ahead of us is our role in the Capitol Christmas tree
and the laying of the wreaths at national veterans cemeteries on
Wreaths Across America Day December 17. This is a big thing for
the association. A lot of our members participate in that cause.
I plan on being at Arlington National Cemetery myself and am
really looking forward to that. Of course, we’ll be watching the
elections to see how the new Congress looks and begin building
relationships with new senators and representatives after the
first of the year to see what kind of agenda has been set in Washington
with the new administration. We’ll need to keep our eyes
open and any issue that threatens to knock us off the saddle we
need to be ready to address.
Speaking of Wreaths Across America, TCA’s fourth annual Wreaths
Across America Charitable Gala was held September 20 in Washington.
By all reports, the Gala, like those before, was a great success.
It was fantastic. We sold out all the tables. Miss America 2000
Heather French Henry served as our master of ceremonies, which
is significant because she is the daughter of a disabled veteran,
and we heard from Candy Martin, who is now president of American
Gold Star Mothers. Taya Kyle was our keynote speaker. She
talked about her relationship with her husband Chris and how it
was to be at home when your loved one is overseas fighting for
your country and not knowing whether or not they are safe. We
raised $108,000, which included a $50,000 donation from the
National Association of Independent Truckers Foundation, to help
with logistics efforts this year. The $108,000 was then coupled
with a $150,000 gift from the Walmart Foundation. It was just a
great event as always. I want to thank Debbie Sparks and the staff
planning the evening and of course we couldn’t do it without the
help of Pilot Flying J and Freightliner and our other sponsors. We
really appreciate them stepping up to the table and the fact that
we don’t have to ask them to participate; they come forward every
year and offer to help. It’s just such a great night for TCA, Wreaths
Across America, our veterans and Morrill and Karen Worcester. The
evening really shows what we think of our veterans.
What are the things that excite you the most about President Lyboldt’s
vision for the association and the leadership he has brought
to TCA?
John has a great passion for being the voice of truckload.
When we interviewed candidates for the position in late 2014,
John’s passion absolutely stood out. His passion led to great success
at the National Automobile Dealers Association. He’s had
experience in the advocacy world as well as the benchmarking
world, and those are two important things for the association.
He also understands the importance of membership in TCA and
has put a renewed focus on membership. He’s made a couple of
staff changes to bolster our efforts in the area of recruiting new
members. Speaking of staff changes, the board in September
promoted Dave Heller to the position of vice president of government
affairs, which will increase our presence on Capitol Hill since
John is also a registered lobbyist. There’s new leadership at the
American Trucking Associations which John has embraced and
the ATA leadership has embraced John and the association. We’re
committed to working together and will have one voice as far as
advocacy goes when we are aligned on an issue.
Share with us what’s ahead for the next six months and the things
you want to accomplish leading up to the 2017 convention next
March.
Why is it important for TCA members to become involved in the effort
to transport the wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery and
other national cemeteries across the country?
It is very important, especially because the number of wreaths
needing to be transported grows every year. The need for more
power and transportation simply has increased. My company has
participated and it has been a great honor not only for our company
and our employees, but more so for the drivers who get to
participate and be at the event and shake the hands of the people
laying the wreaths. It’s a very honorable thing for our members
to participate in. I would urge any member carrier who can to
participate. They can contact Debbie Sparks at the TCA office.
This is a very heartwarming program.
September marked the first time the fall committee and board
meetingS were held in conjunction with the Gala. Share with
members a report on those meetings and how well the decision to
have those meetings at the Gala worked out.
Because of a scheduling conflict, we had to move the date for
our fall meeting that is usually held during the ATA Management
Conference and Exhibition. We had better attendance than usual
at both our committee and board meetings, most likely because
they were held in conjunction with the Gala. The attendance at
our board meeting was probably 50 percent higher than it had
been in the past. We also held some benchmarking meetings prior
to the Gala. So all in all, it was a good opportunity to be able
to gather so many members in Washington, which is right across
the river from TCA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Moving
the meeting to September also allowed us to pass the budget prior
to the beginning of the fiscal year, something that we couldn’t
do when we met at the ATAMCE, which is held in October. Going
forward, we are going to look at the option of doing it in conjunction
with the Gala or going back to meeting at ATAMCE. That will
be a board decision.
32 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Sponsored by Mcleod software
McLeodSoftware.com | 877.362.5363
Concerning the upcoming election, why is
it important for members to get to the polls
November 8?
As American citizens, a lot of people
take for granted the right to vote. A lot of
countries would envy our position. A lot of
people gave their lives over 200 years ago
to give us the right to vote. Participating in
the election process and getting to know
your elected officials, whether they are
at the local, state or federal level, is our
duty as American citizens, and as business
owners and association members. A lot of
our elected officials have no idea how important
trucking is to our economy. Most
of them just see trucks as these big vehicles
that have wrecks, cause traffic jams,
and tear up roads and bridges. They don’t
see the other side of it. The more relationships
our members can have with elected
officials, the more we can get our message
out. Voting is very important.
As we close our chat, let’s talk about some
regulatory issues that are currently at the
forefront. First, the speed limiter Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking is out and ATA says they
are not going to support the proposed rule
as it’s written. What is TCA’s position on the
nprm?
We adopted a position in 2012 that supports
a speed limit of 65 mph for trucks.
Several of us, including the entire TCA
staff and several officers, were at the ATA
meeting earlier this month and sat through
the debate on this issue during the safety
committee meeting and heard [ATA President
and CEO] Chris Spear comment at
the meeting. We agree that the proposed
rule is very ambiguous. We haven’t taken
a vote on the NPRM, so I can’t say whether
we will or will not support it. Talking to
staff and other members, I believe we all
feel the NPRM is ambiguous and a lot of
things will have to be defined before we’ll
support the proposed rule as now written.
The issue with F4A has really burst on the
scene. Why is it going to be important for
the industry to convince Congress to pass
legislation that will ensure there is only
one set of rules for trucking?
You’ve just said it. There are 48 contiguous
states in which most of us operate.
Having different sets of rules for rest
breaks, for compensation, for overtime
or anything else that differs from state to
state becomes an administrative nightmare,
especially for those of us who operate
nationally, which most truckload carriers
do. But even those who are regional
might cover several states during a trip.
Having different rules for different states
presents the potential for complaints to
the National Labor Relations Board and for
lawsuits. We’ve done a pretty good job as
an industry at getting Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration regulations to
apply in all states. We need rules that conform
everywhere.
Finally, the Hours of Service rule — more
specifically the 34-hour restart provision
— is still up in the air. The Senate and House
FY2017 appropriations bills offer differing
avenues to resolve the issue. What is TCA’s
position on the 34-hour restart issue?
TCA and the industry continue to work
toward a legislative fix on the 34-hour restart.
It was apparent that logistically, we
could not support two consecutive periods
of 1 a.m.-5 a.m. or even the provision that
only allowed for the usage of the restart
once every 168 hours. That being said, our
industry has worked hard in getting a correction
in place that will help remedy the
situation and provide us with a restart provision
in the Hours of Service regulations
that we can thrive on. Since Congress insisted
that its recent Continuing Resolution
(CR) be a clean one [meaning no riders],
we remain committed to a fix that will be
inserted into the massive omnibus spending
bill certain to be taken up in December
once the CR expires. There is pro-trucking
language in both the House and Senate versions
of the spending bill that supports the
membership’s desire to maintain the restart
provision. The full Senate has already voted
on and passed language that contains
a 73-hour weekly cap on hours if a driver
chooses to use the restart, while the House
version, which has only passed committee,
contains no weekly cap. Once the omnibus
bill goes to conference, we expect the two
sides to come together with a version that
our membership can support. What truly
concerns our industry is the presence of
the restart study that FMCSA conducted as
prescribed by the Consolidated and Further
Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015. We
as an industry continue to wait for the published
outcome of this study, yet the agency
seems insistent on withholding the results
until a legislative fix is in place. As always,
we will keep our membership up-to-date as
new information arises.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You are most welcome.
34 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

FALL | TCA 2016
Member Mailroom
What can my company do to support National
Wreaths Across America Day on December 17?
For the past five years, the Truckload Carriers Association has
been Wreaths Across America’s logistics partner. TCA staff members
secure carriers to transport wreaths to Arlington National
Cemetery as well as to more than 1,200 veterans’ cemeteries
across the U.S. In 2015, nearly 300 tractor-trailers were required
and that number is projected to increase by 40 percent
for 2016.
Interested in hauling a truckload of wreaths but need more
information? First, all wreaths are made in Columbia Falls,
Maine. Can’t travel to Maine? You can choose from one of the
following: Kansas City, Missouri; Colona, Illinois; or Richland,
Mississippi. The cross-dock locations normally coincide with the
wreaths’ destinations. Example: Wreaths for Minneapolis will
come from Colona, Illinois, and cross-dock depending on the
number of wreaths per cemetery.
Interested in seeing what loads are available? Have a specific
cemetery in mind? Beginning October 24, visit www.truckloadofrespect.com
to access TCA’s “load board.” Need additional
help? Contact TCA staff at TCA@truckload.org.
One main requirement is that haulers have a 48-foot or 53-
foot dry van or refrigerated trailer.
“Our commitment to Wreaths Across America runs deep, as
the trucking industry tends to be very patriotic,” said TCA Vice
President of Development Debbie Sparks. “From our trucking
company donations of equipment and money, to our professional
truck drivers’ donation of their time, we are committed to
adorning these graves every year.”
TCA encounters numerous drivers each year who are veterans
and want to haul the wreaths but can’t financially. So if
you don’t have the equipment but want to sponsor a load for an
owner-operator, beginning October 20 you can visit truckloadofrespect.com
to donate.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 35

FALL | TCA 2016
Talking TCA
m a r l i r i g g s h a l l | o u t r e a c h a n d e n g a g e m e n t m a n a g e r
B Y d o r o t h y c o x
As a student at Hedgesville High School, located in the Eastern
Panhandle of West Virginia, Marli Riggs Hall was on both the varsity
and junior varsity softball teams for three years, playing “left field,
third base, shortstop and sometimes pitcher … I wore many hats,”
she says.
When the upbeat and confident 30-year-old got her first job in
D.C. at a publication called “Employee Benefits Adviser” in April 2011,
she again wore many hats — monitoring the magazine’s social media
accounts, conducting podcasts and interviewing sources in the insurance
field.
So when Hall interviewed with the Truckload Carriers Association
to become their membership coordinator in April 2013, she was not
taken aback by the fact that “they kept reiterating that I would wear
a lot of hats.”
And when she was named TCA’s outreach and engagement manager
early this year, she welcomed a few more.
But as you might imagine, when it comes to hats, it’s the more the
merrier with Hall.
She comes by her hard-working drive honestly. “I was raised on
a beef cattle farm,” Hall says proudly. “My [immediate] family has
always and still lives in Hedgesville,” on Siler Farm, which has more
than 260 acres of farm land, nearly 100 head of beef cattle, and dozens
of chickens.
Prior to her parents taking over the farm duties in the mid-90’s,
Hall’s late, great-grandmother, Eileen Francis Siler, who Hall affectionately
called “Moma,” was the owner of Siler Farm when Hall was
a child. Siler was employed by the General Motors plant based in
Martinsburg where she worked full-time. Toward the latter part of her
life, when Hall spent the majority of time with her, Siler battled Non-
Hodgkin lymphoma.
“[Siler] went years and years with cancer still working full-time”
at the plant and as a full-time farmer, something that’s really telling
about her work ethic, said Hall.
Currently, Hall’s dad, John Riggs, is the full-time caretaker of Siler
Farm and is “a good steward of the land.”
In addition to the farm’s bull-calf operation (one bull, majority of
heifers), hay, alfalfa and vegetables are plentiful. Hall’s family is especially
proud of its recent accomplishment, the 2013 Berkeley County
Conservation Farmer Award, for installing numerous solar-powered
water filtration systems in many of its paddocks.
From a young age, Hall and her sister Courtni Marie, who is seven
years younger, had plenty of chores to do on the farm including chopping
and splitting firewood for the family’s woodstove (which her parents
still have along with their more modern conveniences), helping
to move cattle, and gathering eggs from the chickens among other
jobs.
And more often than not, it was messy.
“Muck boots are a farmer’s friend,” Hall joked. “[When] running
around the barnyard, [cow patties] tend to go all up your legs and
get in your shoes and your pants. It’s just everywhere, because well,
it’s a barnyard.”
“We have what we call moving day where we move the cows from
field to field every couple of Saturdays. The cows know it’s moving
day. They all line up with their noses against the gates and they’re all
just waiting because they know there’s greener pastures.”
Taking care of the animals taught Hall “dependability, obviously,”
she says. “There are no sick days in farming. Every day although
there’s always something different there are some things that never
change.
“You have to be motivated, hardworking … it doesn’t matter if you
are sick one day, you have animals that depend on you and if you’re
feeling bad you have to get up, you have to go downstairs and put on
your layers and strap up your boots. You’ve got to ride up to the farm
and feed the animals and water them.”
“My dad,” she continues, “was a kiln operator” at Corning Glass
Works in Martinsburg. He also “was a fork lift driver; he did all that
stuff. He wore many hats, too, as did my mom.”
As an outreach and engagement manager, Hall (with her many
hats) is busy working behind the scenes and responsible for monitoring
TCA’s social media accounts and ensuring the website is up-todate,
as well as overseeing six award programs like Driver of the Year
and Trucking’s Top Rookie. She enjoys working closely with the Dave
36 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 37

Nemo Show staff and slating guests for TCA’s “Load ‘em Up, Move ‘em
Out” segments. It’s important to promote TCA’s staff, such as Dave
Heller, TCA’s vice president of government affairs, when they’re on
the road and speaking at events, she adds.
Throughout the year, Hall helps to coordinate carriers to haul the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund’s Wall That Heals, and around this time of
the year, Hall helps with the logistics of Wreaths Across America.
“As you can see, there’s a very broad spectrum of stuff that I work
on, but as I always say, ‘I didn’t find trucking, trucking found me.’”
But before trucking found her, Hall had wanted to be a news reporter.
When in high school, Hall took a newspaper and journalism class
and wrote for the student newspaper her junior and senior years.
When asked why she enjoyed journalism so much, she credits her
teachers, Ms. Tomasic and Mrs. Staubs.
“I had two women [teachers] I gravitated toward and their passion
for their respective subjects had something to do with my shaping”
into wanting to be a newspaper writer, she says.
In her senior year of high school, Hall even “opted out” of playing
softball and signed up for a criminal law course, which yielded an
internship at a public defender’s office.
“I’ve always [been] one who’s felt the need to help or the need to
assist people, even if it meant long hours and little pay,” she says.
The public defenders, and what they did for their clients, struck a
chord with Hall.
After high school, Hall decided to attend West Virginia University
(WVU). “As a freshman I decided to major in journalism and minor in
criminology,” she says. “I had classes in juvenile delinquency [and]
hate crimes; I loved all these interesting classes so I decided I wanted
to be an investigative reporter.”
Hall’s journalism path gradually morphed into wanting to work for
a police department as a media spokesperson. “That was the goal,”
she says, “but in my senior year the school of journalism did away
with criminology as a minor and I said, ‘What am I going to do now?’
and my advisor said, ‘just minor in sociology.’
“The study of people?” Hall asked. “That’s boring.” It doesn’t seem
too far-fetched, now, however.
Hall wrote for WVU’s school newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum and
her beat was crime. With
her love of the truth and
helping people, one of
her stories in particular
“ruffled so many feathers,”
she says. It was an
exposé about deplorable
living conditions in some
of the well-funded frat
houses.
After talking candidly
with students about an
ongoing problem, “I just
exposed it and blew the
Marli Hall with her parents
John and Laura Riggs.
roof off,” she says. “I had so many entities at WVU that were like,
‘You need to stop writing about this.’ It was a pretty big deal. My editor
said, ‘Run with it, because we’ve got this information and people
are paying dues and paying so much money, why should they live in
these conditions,’ which I agreed with,” she says.
Hall takes great pride in the hard evidence of all her journalism work
— a binder filled with 500 column inches which equates to 30 published
stories. “I cherish that thing because that was a lot of work to do on top
of all my classes … .”
Upon graduating, Hall moved back home and began working as a
copy desk editor and staff writer for The Journal, a daily publication
where she had worked during high school. After a year and a half, she
decided to “go where the money is,” and nabbed the “Employee Benefits
Adviser” job in D.C.
Given her current living situation back home, and being within walking
distance of the commuter train station in Martinsburg, she opted to
hop aboard, five hours a day, for six months.
After weighing the pros and cons, she decided it was time for a move
in 2012, to her current city, Alexandria, Virginia. “A friend offered to split
the cost of a place [which was] perfect,” she says.
Perfect for her love life and eventually her career. At the girls’ new
apartment complex on March 27, a craft beer tasting event was being
held at the property office. Hall met her husband Chris at the event. The
two married October 8, 2016, in Luray, Virginia, but when they met he
Q & A With Marli Hall
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: February 14, 1986, in
Martinsburg, West Virginia
MY TRADEMARK EXPRESSION IS: Hooray!
PEOPLE SAY I REMIND THEM OF: Recently, Meghan
Trainor, the singer
I HAVE A PHOBIA OF: Tornadoes
MY GUILTY PLEASURE: Binge watching Netflix shows
with sweet treats
THE PEOPLE I’D INVITE TO MY FANTASY DINNER
PARTY: Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, Edgar Allen Poe,
Diana, Princess of Wales
I WOULD NEVER WEAR: A tiara
A GOAL I HAVE YET TO ACHIEVE: Owning a home
THE LAST BOOK I READ: James Patterson’s “Cross” from
the Alex Cross novel series
LAST MOVIE I SAW: “The Purge: Election Year”
MY FAVORITE SONG: “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac
IF I’VE LEARNED ONE THING IN LIFE, IT WOULD
BE: To live my life and not let others hold me back
MY PET PEEVE: Tedious tasks
THE THING ABOUT MY OFFICE IS: A hodgepodge of
accomplishments while at TCA
ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP: Personable
38 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

Taking the family’s herd of beef
cattle from one grazing area to
another was a recurring task.
Gathering eggs from the family
farm’s chickens were one of many
chores Marli and her sister Courtni
Marie performed.
Marli Riggs Hall with her husband
Chris on their wedding day.
was conducting a craft beer tasting for his then employer, Dean & DeLuca,
an upscale gourmet food chain.
Because of her workload at “Employee Benefits Adviser”— covering
the Obamacare oral arguments at the Supreme Court — she almost
didn’t attend the tasting but she was glad she did, as the two hit it
off right away.
“He was telling me all about these beers, only giving me two-ounce
pours (the legal limit in D.C.) but meanwhile he’s handing out full
beers right and left to other people because he wanted to keep talking
to me,” she says. Of course, she continued to talk to him, too.
Although the romance side of things was taking off in Hall’s life,
she was laid off from her job at the Adviser publication. She’ll never
forget the day when she called Chris and said, “I lost my job today”
and to her somewhat surprise, he said, “That’s OK, we’ll get through
it.” Hall says with a laugh that had the shoe had been on the other
foot and he’d lost his job, she’s not sure she’d have been quite so
understanding.
After months of applying for jobs and getting no bites, lo and behold
someone named Debbie Sparks [TCA’s vice president of development]
saw Hall’s résumé on indeed.com and e-mailed Hall.
“I told Chris, ‘This woman found my résumé and she invited me
to come in for an interview.’ And he said, ‘What’s it for?’ And I said,
‘the Truckload Carriers Association.’ And he said, ‘Let me guess, was
it Debbie Sparks?’ I said, ‘how do you know?’ and he said, ‘Marli, I
used to work at American Trucking Associations and I know most of
the people that work at TCA.’” He worked for the association for many
years in the grassroots department.
After TCA’s Annual Convention in March 2014, during the Electric
Carnival Parade at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, to her complete
surprise, he proposed. “It was in front of 10,000 people. There were
balloons and light-up toys, it was so intense. … I said yes, obviously,
and we called all our friends and family and told them the news.”
Some people say trucking gets in your blood. Whether or not that’s
the case, it is true that Hall’s husband’s connection with ATA and her
job at TCA aren’t her only trucking connections.
She shares that her step great-grandfather, Melvin “MT” Plogger,
who was married to “Moma,” drove a truck for Mason Dixon Trucking
and the two met when he delivered parts to the General Motors plant.
He retired in the late ’70s, early ’80s from the trucking company.
Hall also remembers many references that her mom had made to
wanting to be a truck driver because of MT. “She obviously respected
MT and thought it would be a good career,” she says. “As far as actually
getting in a truck and driving it and getting a CDL, she never got
to that point, but it’s very interesting that as a woman in the ’80s, she
was thinking about it.”
So yes, trucking “found” Marli Riggs Hall. It had been waiting for her
all along.
www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 39

4 th Annual
WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA
Charitable
Gala
In
Review
2
3
1
4
Truckload Carriers Association executives deemed successful the Fourth
Annual Wreaths Across America Charitable Gala held September 20. The
event raised $108,000 to support the logistics for delivering hundreds of
thousands of wreaths to place on the graves of veterans December 17 and
raised an additional $150,000 to support WAA’s overall mission.
Keynote speaker Taya Kyle, FOX News Channel contributor, author and
veterans’ activist, brought many in the audience to tears as she described
how her late husband Chris Kyle, a U.S. Navy SEAL of “American Sniper”
fame, died trying to help another veteran and how her family managed
to survive the tragedy. She also co-authored “American Wife: A Memoir
of Love, Service, Faith, and Renewal,” that details her husband’s service
to his country, his murder and her struggles in the weeks and months
following his untimely death.
A surprise donation was given after Taya Kyle spoke: $50,000 from
the National Association of Independent Truckers (NAIT) Foundation,
represented by Scott Miller, managing vice president of TRANSGUARD
Insurance Company of America.
Other notable participants included veteran Candy Martin, whose son,
1st Lt. Thomas Martin, was killed in action in Iraq in 2007, and who is
now president of American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., an organization of
mothers who have lost a son or daughter in service to the U.S.; Master of
Ceremonies Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000 and the daughter of
a disabled veteran; and Morrill and Karen Worcester, founders of Wreaths
Across America.
“This year, the Worcesters asked us to fundraise specifically for
logistics to haul the wreaths because without their delivery, there can
be no National Wreaths Across America Day. The trucking industry’s
participation is absolutely essential to this effort,” said Russell Stubbs,
TCA’s chairman. “We’re seeking additional involvement from those in
the industry, particularly for the delivery process. We need trucking
companies that can haul loads if they never have before, haul more loads
than they’ve done in the past, and ask their fellow trucking company
executives to help, too. Actually, any individual or company from any
industry can make a financial contribution to help a participating owneroperator
with fuel costs.”
“We are proud to support the trucking industry’s involvement in
honoring those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice via the Wreaths
Across America project. In addition to the monetary contribution, our
40 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
employees look forward to participating at several locations in
the laying of the wreaths. We are committed to the support of our
veterans and the trucking industry,” Miller said after he presented the
NAIT donation.
The Gala was hosted by Pilot Flying J and Freightliner Trucks and
sponsored by TravelCenters of America/Petro and Randall-Reilly. After
a reception and dinner, a special cake was brought out to celebrate
the 25th anniversary of the Worcester family’s first wreath laying
at Arlington National Cemetery. To accompany the cake, Patrick
Simmons, senior director of transportation for Walmart’s Private
Fleet, offered a “present” on behalf of the Walmart Foundation — a
$150,000 donation check.
Throughout the evening, small fundraisers brought in additional
funds, such as the “wine grab” sponsored by TravelCenters of
America/Petro, and a photo booth sponsored by DriverFACTS. There
was also a silent auction featuring trips, electronics, jewelry, and
limited edition artwork. A special video, presented by Drivewyze,
honored trucking family members who sacrificed their lives to protect
America’s freedom.
1. Miss America 2000 Heather French Henry served as master
of ceremonies. 2. Left to right, Rob Penner, Bison Transport; Kristen
Bouchard and Marli Riggs Hall, TCA staff; and Josh Kaburick, Earl L.
Henderson Trucking. 3. Glynn and Lisa Spangenberg, Spangenberg
Partners. 4. Starla and Jim Ward, D.M. Bowman; Cari Baylor, Baylor
Trucking. 5. Lindsay Lawler and Chris Roberts sing the National
Anthem. 6. Master Sgt. Lorena Wilson and Lt. Col. Roy Walker, both
members of the U.S. Army, were among the military guests. 7. A
Monument Cruise and Dinner were among the Silent Auction items
up for bid. 8. Attendees could bid on items using a smartphone. 9.
The Worcester family and Taya Kyle. From left, Anne and Wayne
Hanson; Sarah and Rob Worcester; Karen Worcester; Taya Kyle;
Morrill Worcester; and Renee and Mike Worcester. 10. The ballroom
at the Washington Hilton was sold out. 11. American Gold Star
Mothers President Candy Martin, herself a veteran, received a
standing ovation. 12. Bids in the Silent Auction were displayed on
giant screens along with a running total of the money raised. 13.
Taya Kyle brought many in the audience to tears talking about life
with her late husband Chris Kyle.
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 41

TCA Honors America’s
top rookie
By Dorothy Cox
Yes, trucking can be stressful when an automobile driver who
doesn’t understand the physics of stopping an 80,000-pound tractortrailer
cuts you off, agrees Trucking’s Top Rookie Chris Crowell. But
after being “a gunner on a Humvee in Baghdad, Iraq, you can’t even
compare it,” he says.
The 37-year-old Crowell, who during his 13 years in the U.S. Army
served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,
always thought he would be career military.
“I always thought I would make the military my full career, that I’d
retire from it,” he says.
But back problems intervened. “Lower back problems are hereditary,”
he says. That on top of wearing all the heavy combat gear and
banging around in a Humvee were just too much for his back.
He had gone in as an Army intelligence analyst but “I didn’t get to
do that; I did infantry and was in an armory unit, the combat arms
type of stuff.”
After exiting the military Crowell tried college but found it wasn’t
for him, and while there his mom passed away from liver cancer so
“schooling took a back seat.”
He took care of his widowed father until his brother bought a house
and moved their father in with him. It was then that this Bronze Star
recipient decided to get a stop-gap job working at a pet store to
support his wife and two daughters while he hunted for a stable job
where he could build a career. Push came to shove when a promotion
to store manager netted him a paltry 25-cent raise: Crowell knew
then he had to get serious about getting “out of the retail environment,”
not only because it was a dead-end job but also because he
was lifting 40- 50-pound sacks of dog food daily, further exacerbating
his back problems.
“I went on Google to look for the most stable career choices with
lots of job opportunities without a college degree and found trucking,”
he recalls. “I said, ‘let me try that.’”
After driver training he signed on with Werner, where he’s been for
a little over a year, and loves it.
Why Werner? “They’re good about hiring veterans, which is really
important. Any company that was willing to hire or seeks out military
is high on my priority list.”
“I took to [truck driver] training like a duck to water, you could
say,” he adds. “I’m typically out Sunday afternoon and get home on
Friday after dinner” to see his wife Megan and their two young daughters
Arya, 2, and Autumn, 1.
His wife understands about his time away from home. “She’s fine
with it,” he says. “She was [military] intelligence, too. We met during
a deployment to Iraq; we were both working in Baghdad and we went
to lunch at the same time.” After both came back from overseas the
relationship continued and blossomed.
And Crowell’s military experience (he was staff sergeant at the
time of his exit) stands him in good stead in trucking.
“The military in me says to make sure you accomplish the mission.
It’s get the job done first and foremost.”
Kevin Walker, Crowell’s fleet manager at Werner, says, “He always
puts his job first and his account first. He puts his fellow drivers
first. He’s very new to trucking but he’s very seasoned in skill
level and has developed into a trainer and is teaching the future
of Werner.”
Crowell says he would “love to get into management” at Werner.
“In the Army I was in charge of the troops; I loved taking care of
their needs, to get them ready and prepared. I’d love to get into
a position to take care of my fellow truck drivers. That would be
great.”
Trucking’s Top Rookie Chris Crowell has found that 13 years in the
military (including service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation
Enduring Freedom) translates well into trucking. “The military in me
says to make sure you accomplish the mission. It’s get the job done
first and foremost.”
For anyone contemplating trucking as a career, Crowell says
“trucking isn’t for everyone. But if you like to get out and travel and
see the country it’s a great career choice. The pay is good and it can
be very rewarding.”
In fact, working at Werner has given Crowell the opportunity to look
into buying a house in his home state of Maine. “The financial security
[of trucking] has really changed a lot of things for me,” he says.
For garnering the top rookie award, Crowell received $10,000
cash and another $1,000 cash award, which will certainly help in
buying a house.
42 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

A QUICK LOOK AT IMPORTANT TCA NEWS
SMALL
A QUICK LOOK AT
IMPORTANT TCA NEWS
TALK
Best Fleets Nominations Open
From within the trucking industry, there are companies
that stand out from the rest.
Their workplace environments are considered
exceptional because they feature attractive compensation
and benefits, an enviable company culture, or perhaps
unique perks and incentives for their employees.
To identify and recognize them, our association and
CarriersEdge offer Best Fleets to Drive For, an annual
contest and survey now in its ninth year.
Nominations must come from professional truck
drivers and can be made online at BestFleetsToDrive-
For.com through October 31.
During the first 10 days nominations were accepted,
there were 89 nominated fleets, a large amount
considering there are typically from 115-120 nominations
in total.
Once a company accepts the nomination and
agrees to participate, CarriersEdge will contact them
for more details through an electronic questionnaire
and telephone interview. They will speak with senior
management and a random sampling of the company’s
drivers to learn more about the carrier’s compensation,
safety practices, benefits, equipment, training, etc.
Ultimately, the survey answers reveal the innovations
that have proven successful in attracting and retaining
skilled personnel in the trucking industry.
“This year, in addition to our usual questions,
we’re going to be asking fleets about how much time
their drivers spend on the road, whether they provide
guaranteed pay and paid waiting time, and what in-cab
amenities they offer,” said Jane Jazrawy, CEO of CarriersEdge.
“We’ll also get into the topic of diversity, asking
what fleets are doing to bring a more diverse driver
pool to the industry. For the first time, this will have its
own scored section.”
John Lyboldt, TCA’s president, added that “Through
our questions to the nominated fleets, we will unearth
and publicize the most popular benefits and perks that
are being implemented right now. These are the things
that are keeping current drivers happy, while enticing
potential new drivers to join our industry.”
To be eligible, a for-hire fleet must have 10 or more
trucks and operate in the U.S. or Canada. TCA membership
is not required.
The top 20 finishers will be identified as Best Fleets
to Drive For and will be announced in January 2017.
®
From this pool, companies will then be divided into
both “small” and “large” categories, and two overall
winners will be recognized March 26-29, 2017, at the
TCA Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
In late October, companies that have been nominated
(or believe they will be nominated) and are considering
participating are invited to learn more about
the survey requirements through a free webinar.
More details will be released as they are finalized,
but the event will outline the questions that surveyors
will ask, data requirements, and methods for collecting
better information more easily.
Heller Now Vice President of
Government Affairs
David Heller has been promoted to vice president of
government affairs.
TCA Chairman Russell Stubbs made the announcement
at the Board of Directors meeting held at the
Washington Hilton September 21.
Previously, Heller held the title of director of safety
and policy. He will continue with those responsibilities
Previously TCA director of safety and policy,
David Heller was promoted to vice president of
government affairs last month.
as well as leading the association in expanding TCA’s
presence on Capitol Hill and form partnerships and
alliances with those who share a common vision with
TCA, among other things.
“This promotion is the next logical step toward
ensuring that the interests of the truckload segment of
the trucking industry have a clear and unified voice on
the Hill,” Stubbs said. “Working collaboratively with all
necessary parties, Dave will put forth initiatives that
are advantageous to truckload, and he will monitor and
keep us informed about policy and regulatory issues as
they relate to us.”
“As our board, our officers and our leadership team
worked during the past year to set an effective strategic
direction for our association, it became obvious
rather quickly that we needed to expand our efforts in
the area of advocacy on behalf of the truckload sector
of our industry,” said TCA President John Lyboldt.
“With his vast knowledge of regulatory issues, Dave is
the perfect person to lead that effort.”
“The cumulative impact of federal regulations was
listed as the No. 3 concern of the trucking industry in
the latest survey of critical issues facing our industry,”
Heller said. “Two specific regulatory issues — the
ELD mandate and Hours of Service — were No. 1 and
No. 2. And although it was No. 9 on the list specific to
trucking executives, F4A is emerging as a real concern
that must be dealt with in the coming months. Trucking’s
concern over these issues only reinforce the need
for a more active presence on Capitol Hill on behalf of
TCA and its membership. I look forward to leading TCA
in this important work.”
Heller has worked for TCA as director of safety
and policy since 2005. Before that, he spent seven
years as manager of safety programs for the American
Trucking Associations. He is an advisor to the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Entry Level Driver
Training Advisory Committee and is one of the few
association executives to earn certification from the
North American Transportation Management Institute
(NATMI) as a Certified Director of Safety (CDS).
Top Drivers
The Truckload Carriers Association and partners
Overdrive and Truckers News are accepting nominations
for the 2016 Driver of the Year competition
through November 6.
To nominate an owner-operator or company driver
go to truckload.org/driver-of-the-year.
A contestant must demonstrate a safe driving
record, strong work ethic and desire to improve his or
her community and the image of the trucking industry.
The competition is sponsored by Cummins Inc. and
Love’s Travel Stops and is divided into two categories:
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 43

the Company Driver of the Year contest (now in its 26th year) and the Owner-Operator
of the Year contest (now in its 28th year).
The two overall winners will receive $25,000 each, while the two runners-up in
each division will win $2,500.
Danny Smith, a professional truck driver for Big G Express, Inc., of Shelbyville,
Tennessee, was a grand-prize winner in last year’s contest.
“Having the title of Company Driver of the Year has impacted my life in many
ways,” he said. “I have had the opportunity to be a part of national discussion panels
to represent drivers. I have been honored at my state legislature with a Proclamation
for my award. It validated what I do every day, which is drive safe and promote the
industry. Last but not least, the money has provided a safety net and opportunity for
a family trip of a lifetime. I am grateful beyond words.”
Last year’s Owner-Operator of the Year, Edward “Mark” Tricco, who is leased to
Bison Transport of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, said, “It’s been a great honor and a
great experience … from a full banner at my company’s home terminal, to having a
decal on my truck recognizing this accomplishment. I’ve had many conversations
about that decal and what it means, from customs agents to people in truck stops. I
am proud to explain what it means!”
To qualify for the contests, nominees must have driven a minimum of one million
consecutive, accident-free miles.
Company drivers must be nominated by the motor carrier that employs them.
Owner-operators may be nominated by a carrier they have been leased to for
a period of three or more years, or they can nominate themselves or be nominated
by a spouse.
Previous grand prize winners are not eligible to enter either contest again,
and other requirements can be found in the official contest rules, available on
TCA’s website.
In addition to the basics listed above, nominees must provide proof of operating
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2015 Owner-Operator of the Year, Edward “Mark” Tricco, left, and 2015
Company Driver of the Year Danny Smith visit with TCA Highway Angel
spokesperson Lindsay Lawler at the Great American Trucking Show in
Dallas in August.
information, work history, and safety record.
They are also asked to write a 300-word essay explaining why they are good
“trucking citizens” and should be a candidate for the grand prize.
For the owner-operators, additional documentation is required such as equipment
specifications, business plans, and financial statements.
The competition judges will examine these materials and select the three finalists
for each contest, to be announced in December.
Each of the six finalists will receive an all-expense paid trip to attend TCA’s
Annual Convention, March 26-29, 2017, at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville,
Tennessee.
There, one grand prize winner will be selected for each contest.
InGauge
Over the past two months, the association has been working diligently on
many new features and improvements to the Truckload Carriers Association’s
inGauge program.
As a result, we are pleased to launch Version 1.6.
When you log in, you will notice the following:
Dashboard Loading Speed. As a result of server caching techniques, the loading
times for each dashboard has improved by over 90 percent. Depending on your
internet connection, all dashboards should load in under three seconds (which exceeds
our original goal of four seconds).
Action Items (Stage 1). In order to increase awareness and usage of the Action
Items feature, we have added an interface directly to the dashboards, which allows
primary users to add/edit Action Items below each linked metric. Further, primary
users are able to assign an Action Item to a specific sub user and set a deadline. In
the upcoming months, we will be introducing numerous improvements/changes to
Action Items to make the process more collaborative among all users.
Goal Tracking. Similar to the new interface for Action Items, we have added a
simple interface below each linked metric on the Internal Dashboard to allow primary
users to add/edit numeric goals. In the next two weeks, we will be adding a line
chart (similar to external dashboard) to visualize your performance (over multiple
intervals) versus your goal(s). Soon you will also have the option of setting goals for
each fiscal month.
New Navigation Toolbar. We have eliminated the bulky navigation toolbar at
the top of the screen in favor of a smaller, more intuitive navigation toolbar. In the
coming months, the menu area (blue area on left-hand side) will be eliminated
entirely, and replaced with a more functional toolbar that will improve functionality
on all devices.
Value Formatting. You will now notice we have added comma separation for
44 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

‘thousandths’ on all displayed values and that all currency-related
metrics now display “$” in front of them.
BPG Bar Chart. We have changed the color for the
logged-in user from red to yellow.
For more information, contact TCA inGauge Program
Manager Chris Henry at chris@tcaingauge.com.
McLeod, TCA Partnership
Working with the Truckload Carriers Association’s
inGauge online benchmarking service, McLeod Software
has created automated reporting functions that let our
customers generate, with the click of a mouse, the monthly
data exports from their LoadMaster Enterprise system,
which are necessary for the Benchmarking program.
This includes an automated data export for all 334 items
submitted monthly by the Best Practice Group members
and the 72 items submitted by the online subscribers in
this program.
This new product makes the accurate export of the
required data as simple and fast as it can possibly be; it
has been tested with the inGauge system in collecting
benchmarking data. This saves labor hours and ensures
consistency in creating the data imported by inGauge.
“We recognize the great value that our customers are
getting by participating in the TCA benchmarking initiative,”
said Tom McLeod, founder and CEO of McLeod Software.
“We wanted to make it easy for our customers to
participate, so we have invested in helping remove most
of the labor required to collect and organize the necessary
inputs for the Benchmarking program. I hope that having
access to this automated process will encourage even
more of our customers to participate in the TCA benchmarking
initiatives.”
“McLeod Software understands the value of benchmarking
for its customers. The launch of this new reporting
tool demonstrates their commitment to helping
their customers become more efficient and profitable,”
stated Chris Henry, inGauge program manager. “We value
McLeod’s generous support and efforts to make benchmarking
a standard industry practice in trucking.”
Tom McLeod
TCA 2016 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 45

Mark Your
Calendar
December 2016
>> December 14 — Webinar: Maintenance, Operations, Recruitment and
Retention, Safety and Compliance. 12 noon-1 p.m. ET. Find more information at
Truckload.org or contact TCA at (703) 838-1950.
march 2017
>> March 26-29 — Truckload Carriers Association Annual Convention, Gaylord
Opryland, Nashville, Tennessee. Find more information at Truckload.org or
contact TCA at (703) 838-1950.
>> December 16 — 2016 Wreaths Across America Driver Appreciation Dinner,
Arlington, Virginia. Find more information at Truckload.org or contact TCA at
(703) 838-1950.
>> December 17 — 2016 National Wreaths Across America Day, Arlington
National Cemetery and other veterans’ cemeteries across the nation. Find more
information at Truckload.org or contact TCA at (703) 838-1950.
Visit TCA’s Event Calendar Page
online at Truckload.org and click “Events.”
trucking’s most entertaining executive public ation
Tca members:
This is your magazine!
BEST FLEETS TO DRIVE FOR | SAFEST FLEETS | DRIVERS OF THE YEAR | HIGHWAY ANGEL
INSIDE OUT FEATURING RON GOODE | HIGHWAY ANGEL TOUR | GETTING HEALTHY WITH ROLLING STRONG
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E T R U C K L O A D C A R R I E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E T R U C K L O A D C A R R I E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
HEALTH FAIRS | inGAUGE LAUNCH | MEET OUR NEW MEMBER DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E T R U C K L O A D C A R R I E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
FROM WHERE WE SIT • HIGHWAY ANGEL TOUR WITH LINDSAY LAWLER • WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA GALA IN REVIEW
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E T R U C K L O A D C A R R I E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
WINTER 2015-16
SPRING 2016
SUMMER/FALL 2015
MISTER
MONDAY
NIGHT WITH
BEST FLEETS TO DRIVE FOR • NATIONAL FLEET SAFETY AWARD WINNERS • DRIVERS OF THE YEAR
O F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E T R U C K L O A D C A R R I E R S A S S O C I A T I O N
with international
TV star MIKE ROWE
Russell Stubbs is the
first third-generation
chairman in TCA history
COACH JON GRUDEN
SUMMER 2014
BILL O’REILLY
EXCLUSIVE
NO SPIN MEDIA MOGUL
WINTER
2013-14
CRACKING UP (NO LAUGHING MATTER) | 06
RIDICULUDICROUS \ r -’dik-y -’lud-e-kres \ | 10
DOWN TO BUSINESS WITH CHAIRMAN KRETSINGER | 24
TCA CELEBRATES 75 YEARS: FOUNDATION OF THE FUTURE | 33
IN THIS ISSUE:
HIGHWAY TO HOPE
Unfunded optimism
FAKERZ PART 2
Scam me once, shame on you.
Scam me twice, shame on us.
ATRI’S TOP 10
The top 10 industry concerns
keeping executives up at night
RAISING THE BAR
Entry-level driver training
standards are going up
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
The industry has woken up to the dangers
posed by obstructive sleep apnea
OVERSTOCKED
Over-supply has the new truck market limping
along. Who’s paring down the inventory?
IN THIS ISSUE:
CSA, TAKE 2
Will the second act be better than the first?
YOU CAN’T PARK HERE
Lack of parking continues to vex drivers
BUILDING MORE VALUE
with Chairman Keith Tuttle
12
19
24
EXCLUSIVE
MAKE LOVE, NOT POLITICS WITH
JAMES CARVILLE & MARY MATALIN
TECH TAKEOVER
COMING RETRACTIONS
It’s all about your business, your concerns, your challenges and your lifesT yle.
FIRED UP
WITH CHAIRMAN SHEPARD DUNN
We WanT To hear from you! Tell us how we’re doing and how we can address your needs better. Maybe there is a topic you would like to see
covered or a story you think deserves attention. Feel free to email us at editor@thetrucker.com. We appreciaTe The opporTuniT y To serve you.
-The Trucker and your Truckload Authority team
46 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2016

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